Siren's Calling
by WG-Writer
Summary: Ranma, Sailor Moon, Girl's Bravo, Tenchi Muyo crossover. Ranma is having a bad day, but can things get any better? or are things just going to go down hill. rated T for mild language
1. Prologue

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company). 

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

* * *

Prologue

* * *

A shadowy figure wielding a large, odd shaped staff watched the events before her. She watched as an old friend suffered needlessly at the hands of others. "Soon…" she said, "soon you will find your past, and your destiny, and for that I am sorry. But, I must push you down that path." A single tear rolled down her cheek, which she quickly wiped away, and remembered the conversation that would push her old friend down a path that would not normally be taken.

About an hour prior the shadowy figure had been standing before the high priestess of Siren. It was just after lunch, local time of course. As she sighed heavily she spoke saying, "She has been found, and I now know why it has taken this long to identify her."

The high priestess smiled and said, "It's about time. She has been missing since that day… we should not have lost her in the first place. However, that was our own folly back then. This time it will be different."

The shadowy figured continued on, not looking particularly thrilled about the next 'bomb shell' she was about to drop, and said simply "Senna…"

Senna, the high priestess, frowned. "I have known you a long time, and I also know when you do not like a particular fact. You go all quiet." Senna said, before she asked quizzically, "So, are you going to just spill, or are you into playing the mysterious one, hmm?"

The shadowed figure in reply simply handed some documents that contained photos and birth records over to Senna. Senna cocked her head and began to rifle through the files, her eyes developing a noticeable twitch as she read the information contained inside. After she had read several of the papers, she looked the shadowy figure straight in the eye, and said, "Funny. Really funny. Now can the comedy and tell me the truth."

The reply came, simply, "Did I tell a joke?"

Senna began to shout at the woman before her. "No way is this," pausing to indicate the documents she had received before continuing, "her. This has to be a lie. There is no way this can be her… how can she help us? As she is, she is only useful for having children. Not the arts and defiantly not war." Senna yelled at the shadowy figure.

At this point, the shadowy figure thought, 'What a bigot of a sexist.' She shook her head and replied, "Have I ever lied before?"

Senna looked squarely at the figure and stated, "No. Bent the truth… yes. But lie outright…? I never remember you ever lying before." Senna sighed as the roiling emotion drained from her.

The figure then stated, "Fortunately, this problem is of minor consequence and has already been addressed. However, she will need guidance since she, as she is now, is not ready for her destiny, especially since both of her parents are… well, to say they are bad parents is an insult to bad parents." Senna raised an eyebrow questioningly. She began to get heated again, having an idea of where the other person was going.

The figure continued, "There are complete records in there of her life up to now. You should probably look through them."

Again, Senna looked through the records. She moved past where she had left off of last time and began to peruse the portions she had missed. As she read, she felt herself growing angry.

The figure then said, seemingly ignoring Senna's obvious display of temper, "Fortunately for us, she gets dunked in water on a near continuous basis."

Senna, while looking like she could spit fire and scare demons away with a look, growled, "I see… Lucky us…" with enough sarcasm that the shadowy figure was glad no device could measure sarcasm or it would have found itself overloaded and destroyed in very short order. Senna continued, "Ok where is she?"

The figure was silent a second, then replied, "Nerima ward, Tokyo, Japan."

Senna looked at the documents again, laughing unpleasantly. She forced herself to forget her anger, since it would not help at all in this situation. Senna, shook her head and said, "From the stories of her back before we lost her, her name fits her very well." Senna looked seriously at the shadowy figure and said, "Thank you Pluto. I hope she can recover timely from the treatment she received on earth."

Sailor Pluto nodded, and replied "She needs time to adjust to her new life. Help her relax and enjoy life first, then tell her the truth. However, do not let her return until you feel she is ready. She must not be forced to do something she does not want to do. She is very stubborn and must be handled carefully." With that Pluto teleported away in a flash of light, while Senna started making plans.


	2. C1 Commence

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company). 

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 1 – Commence

* * *

"Dekiko!" Senna called out to the library.

Dekiko, who was a young girl of 16 or 17 and of an average height, came out of the library she had been in. "Yes, high priestess?" Dekiko replied, as she saw who had called her.

Senna smiled at the promptness of the young orphan, while remembering that she was brought in after her mother was killed during the last "man" war. Dekiko was very smart, but a little shy and not too social. 'Maybe they will be a good influence on each other,' she thought.

Senna looked at Dekiko and shook her head at the young girl's appearance. Her brown hair was in a simple ponytail, and she was wearing a loose fitting t-shirt and overalls combination. Her glasses looked as if they were any bigger it would be comically oversized for her brown eyes.

She then proceeded to fill the 16 year old in on some of what she needed to know. "I am going to summon a girl from Earth; we believe she is the 'Lost one'." Dekiko gasped then Senna continued, "I am going to leave the 'lost one' under your care to help soften the blow. She is going to be teleported into the shrine's lake and I want you to "find her" and bring her to see me. But do not tell her or anyone about her being the 'lost one'. I am not even certain she is the 'lost one', but we can not risk being wrong."

Dekiko asked, "Why the subterfuge, and why not just outright tell her the truth? I think it would be easier if we just told her everything from the outset."

Senna looked at her levelly, before asking, "If you were transported to Earth, and told you were a princess, would you believe it?"

Dekiko swiftly replied with a flat, "No." Dekiko looked pensive for a moment before nodding and saying, "I will help you, High Priestess."

Senna then added, "Two more thing; I want you to research any information on who she was back then, and as a reward I will supply you with a few months supply of beauty soap. However make sure she uses it first, I doubt that the lake will leave her smelling very good."

* * *

Akane frowned as she remembered recent events. She was having a hard time recently, now that Auntie… no, make that Saotome-san, showed up. At first, she seemed like such a nice person, but the more Akane knew about her, the more she disliked her. The seppuku contract was the first sign of problems, and things went down hill from there. And that was only the tip of the iceberg. What really made her mad was when more fiancées showed up. There were now three more fiancées in town. They seemed to be staying, at least for now, although it seemed more of a formality, and, despite claims to the contrary, it irked her. Especially when that guy showed up looking for his fiancée… Well, both fathers learned the error of their ways from that. Ranma still looked sick every time it came up, and the way Saotome-san fidgeted with her katana all the time.

However, the worst part was that Yuka was one of the fiancées. Akane had really felt betrayed when she found out that Yuka was one of them. She may have trusted Yuka enough to know that she would not try to get Ranma from her, but Akane's general trust was starting to slip. Genma's past was beginning to catch up with Ranma, and it didn't look like it would be good at all. As Akane thought about it, she realized that the only person that Ranma ever talked to without putting his foot in his mouth was Kasumi. And that worried her far more than everything else.

* * *

Ukyo was worried as well. More fiancées meant more competition. After mentally counting the number of fiancées who were after Ranma, either actively chasing him or not, Ukyo realized that there were thirteen, counting the guy and Yuka. She decided that the situation finally called for drastic action. However, Ukyo would need help… a lot of help. Her new friend Konatsu would be willing to do anything to help her, but for what she had in mind she would need to take measures that she normally would not take. Konatsu, who had just two and a half weeks ago been saved from his old life by Ukyo, was very grateful, and worried for her happiness. Ukyo finally decided on her course of action. She would have to align herself with Akane and Shampoo in order to get rid of these… what did Akane call them again? Ahh yes, "floozy interlopers." Ukyo knew she would have to be careful about Shampoo, however. Akane would not use cheap tricks and try to win Ranma during the alliance, but Shampoo would.

* * *

Shampoo was her usual over perky and obnoxiously bubbly self, which secretly grated on her great grandmother's nerves. 'If she is not careful, then she will lose son-in-law. She is not taking things seriously enough. If I did not know better I would think she was happy with the new obstacles.' Cologne thought, then wondered if Shampoo even wanted to return to the village. Just then, Ukyo walked inside the Nekohatten with Akane in tow, which raised Cologne's eyebrow. 

"What do kitchen destroyer and spatula girl want?" Shampoo demanded angrily.

Akane, who clearly did not want to be there, said defensively, while pointing at Ukyo, "Ask her! It was her idea!"

Ukyo shook her head and said, "Chill, you two. We have a serious problem."

Cologne, guessing where this was going, suddenly spoke up. "Let's talk about this out back." She said, before she left, grinning, while the girls followed.

Upon entering the back room, Cologne spoke up again. "This is about the newcomers right?" She asked of Akane and Ukyo. After seeing Ukyo nod, Cologne smiled and continued, "So, you are here to propose a truce, right?"

Another nod came from Ukyo. "I agree that it is necessary for the time. However, I will warn you that once these other girls are gone," Cologne said intentionally ignoring the guy that had showed up a few days ago, "we will be back to where we were."

Akane spoke up "Why am I here then? I don't need anyone's help." She then made a small grunt as she turned to leave, with Shampoo right behind her, agreeing to what the 'kitchen destroyer' had said.

Cologne bopped them both on their heads as she spoke. "If you three were all Amazons, I would solve this mess by having a three way wedding. If we were on Amazon land, I would simply kill you two. However, neither is the case. Although I want Shampoo to win, this alliance is necessary; otherwise the other girls might win."

Akane then said, in her usual 'Ranma is a pervert' tone, "Let the floozies have him! I don't care what he does." She then turned to continue her previous attempt to leave.

Cologne saw this coming, and had a retort ready and waiting. "Then make an oath on your honor as a martial artist to stop your pursuit of him." Akane froze in her tracks. She grumbled and turned back around to face Cologne.

Ukyo then spoke up. "I don't think it is necessary to be friendly to each other, but we do need to work together to drive off the others. However, we should not interfere with each other or else this alliance will back fire."

Akane and Shampoo looked at each other, then looked at Ukyo and nodded.

Akane then spoke, "We will work together for now, but once those trespassing floozies are gone the truce is over."

Shampoo spoke in agreement, "Obstacles are for killing."

Ukyo replied, "No need to kill them, honey, but make them miserable enough to leave is the plan."

The four then left to plot their way of getting rid of the new rivals.

After they left, a small pig and duck peeked around the boxes they were hiding behind, and nodded to each other. 'Ranma will pay' they both thought.

* * *

To most people it would have been a nightmare; to Ranma it was still a nightmare, and it was a very, very bad day for him. Actually, this day was about three times worse than any day he could ever remember. Ranma recalled the day so far. The day had started with a real nightmare, the one with Kuno and her in female form only this time Ryoga and Mousse were in it too. That thought sent shivers up and down (currently) her spine. 'Ok, no more curry before bed,' Ranma thought to herself. She continued to reminisce about the day. She had woken up from the horrible nightmare with a start in the Koi pond; her usual wake up call for morning exercise. Just as she got out of the pond she slipped, fell down, and hit her head.

'Let's see. So far I have been up one minute, and I had a nightmare, sprained an ankle, hit my head, and now likely have a concussion.' Ranma had thought to herself. After a quick defeat of a certain panda, she walked in to find out that the water heater was out, and that the oven and stove were out as well, meaning no tea… and more importantly, no hot water. As he wondered what he could do, Akane had walked in with a steaming plate of… something. How it was hot, Ranma didn't know, but Akane had managed it somehow. Of course, Ranma just then noticed that she and Kasumi were the only people left, and Kasumi quickly left for Tofu's. After being beaten and force fed, it was off to Tofu's to have her stomach pumped. She would have avoided being near both Kasumi and Tofu simultaneously if she could, but after she saw the pot implode she decided to take the risk. After he left Tofu's, male and somewhat healthy, he got about a block away, where he got wet again. Ranma had looked for the cause, and it was a member of Nerima's Ladies' Ladle Martial Arts School.

She arrived late to school, and into after knocking Kuno skyward, she found out that she had to hold buckets in the hall. When the substitute teacher arrived and she saw a female Ranma, she refused to mark her present since Ranma is marked as 'usually male?' So Ranma waited for the next class under a tree, which was when Kuno appeared again. This time Ranma was so mad that she went for a distance record.

At lunch Ranma had decided not to eat, her reasoning being 'I do not have a bento from Kasumi, Akane cooked, and I can't trust Shampoo any more. Ukyo… well it would be good food, but Akane and Shampoo would make me suffer enough to more than make up for eating Ukyo's food.' Ranma, of course, did not know that the alliance made 3 days ago would prevent that, not to mention the fact the alliance existed. But the three found him anyway, and as usual one thing lead to another and Ranma got first a Bonbori to the head for "not trusting Amazon wife," A Spatula to the head for "Preferring Akane's poison," paralysis poison for "consorting with peasants" (yes she showed up as usual at the worst time), and finally a mallet for "hanging around 'his' floozies"

* * *

Ranma's mind finally caught up to the present as she realized that the Tendo Dojo was almost right in front of her. Ranma shrugged and opened the door to her home, while her mind again went elsewhere. 

'I wonder where the other fiancées went? They weren't at school today.' Ranma thought. Just then, a thought he had been harboring but had never let himself think about popped into her head. 'Akane and the others couldn't have driven them off… could they?' Ranma wondered to herself.

As Ranma came inside the house, she was taken aback by the sight of her entire family and the Tendo family, except for Akane, sitting in one room, seemingly waiting for her. Ranma blinked once and opened her mouth to speak, but her father beat her to it.

"Oh, why am I cursed with such a dishonorable son? Ranma! How can you lead on so many women, and dare I say it, even a man too, when your fiancée lies right inside this house! I can't believe I have such a worthless son!" Genma cried to the heavens, calling everyone's attention to him.

Ranma scowled. "Now wait just a minute!" She growled at her father. However, before she could continue, Nodoka interrupted her.

"Ranma dear, your father has a point. Although it is very manly for you to have so many women, I find it bad that you are with a man too. That is far from manly." Nodoka admonished Ranma, her katana lying on the ground in front of her. Nodoka's hand was twitching, as if it wanted to reach out and grab something.

"Wait, what are you saying?" Ranma demanded. A few seconds thought yielded the answer, and Ranma exclaimed, "Wait, I'm not like that! How could you even think that?" Ranma asked of her. Her face was beginning to get red with a repressed anger that rarely ever managed to escape.

Nabiki yawned idly, and fixed Ranma with a pointed stare. "But it would explain so much, Saotome," She said with a grin on her face. She shrank back as she saw the rage in Ranma's eyes as she stared directly into Nabiki's own.

She threw her hands up resignation and muttered, "I don't need to sit here and take this." Ranma turned her head to Kasumi, and politely and calmly asked, "Do you have any hot water ready?"

Kasumi had stayed silent throughout the entire inquisition. She had wondered why her father had wanted them there, and she had her answer. Kasumi shook her head to Ranma's question. "I'm sorry Ranma. The oven and hot water heater are still out. There will be someone by a little later." Kasumi said, bowing her head in apology.

"That's alright, Kasumi. It's not your fault." Ranma said.

As she turned around to leave, she sensed a battle aura behind her. With a sigh, she made no effort to avoid the mallet that crashed into her head, covering everything in darkness. Ranma crumpled to the ground, actually glad to be unconscious. The last thing she heard was a battle cry of, "Quit flirting with my sister!"

* * *

After Ranma awoke she asked Nabiki "Is Akane in the bath?"

Nabiki replied, "No, she is in the training hall."

Ranma, thinking that answer came too quickly, went to find Kasumi. When entering the kitchen she saw Kasumi and again asked, "Is Akane was in the bath?"

Kasumi replied, "I'm sorry Ranma-chan, but I do not know"

Ranma decided to go to the bathroom and knocked. Not getting a response she decided to call out to see if anyone was in there. Not hearing anything she opened the door only to be malleted by Akane.

Akane then said, "Pervert!"

As she entered the bathroom, Ranma was wondering to herself, 'what else can go wrong today.' After she started taking off her clothing she noticed that she'd forgotten that her period started today. Her eye twitched so slightly she did not even notice.

* * *

Akane was wondering why she thought that Ranma was flirting with her sister, but then realized that her sister was the only real threat to her getting Ranma. She realized that she felt insecure about her older sister; after all she did take Tofu away from her. Her sister was the epitome of goodness, and the one person Akane feared she could not compete with.

* * *

Mousse and Ryoga showed up after Ranma's bath and, as per usual, they started a fight of Nerimanian proportions. Mousse was actually using some decent forms, and Ryoga was using some hidden weapon techniques. Due to these two factors, plus the concussion from her earlier malleting, both got hits in that really hurt.

Then, on her way to Tofu's she saw Taro, as per usual he attacked first in human form then switched to his monster form when he saw he was losing. But when Ranma launched a Shi Shi Hokodan Taro decided that if something had disrupted Ranma's confidence it would be better to be somewhere else.

When Ranma had just about reached the clinic his heart sank as he heard a voice proclaim, "Sweeto!"

Dr. Tofu looked out of his clinic just in time to see Happosai throw a few choice articles of clothing at Ranma, who was then pounded for, as the gang of girls said, "being a pervert", "being in league with the freak", and several other choice terms.

Ranma was at the breaking point, Tofu could see that much, but decided to keep quiet. After all going against Nabiki was not a financially healthy thing to do. He may have liked Ranma but Nabiki was too scary for him to do anything to help directly.

After Ranma got back to the Dojo he was, as per usual, malleted.

Kasumi then said, "Oh my, Akane, did he really deserve that?"

Akane replied, "He was probably off with his 'floozies' again"

Ranma having long ago determined this particular phrase to mean, 'He was gone longer than a blink.' Ranma really wished that she would get a thesaurus, although that word 'floozy' did describe Shampoo very well.

Then came the inevitable lectures.

"Oh, why am I cursed with such a dishonorable son? Ranma! How can you go out to be with other women, when your fiancée lies right inside this house! I can't believe I have such a worthless son!" Genma cried to the heavens, calling everyone's attention to him.

Soun wailed in the back ground, "Now the schools will never be joined."

Nodoka then spoke up, "Son it is very manly to be with many women. However it is not manly to make your fiancée mad at you. You should apologize at once."

Akane who was looking very smug at this time, listened, then felt ashamed when Ranma then said. "I'm sorry Akane, I am sorry I was even born. However, I will let Dr. Tofu know you think of him as a floozy when next I see him."

This set off a large number of alarm bells in Nodoka's head. 'Was her son really this depressed, was she not seeing something? No,' she thought. She continued thinking, 'it is just a bad day, tomorrow he will be his usual manly self' she kept her neutral face and when nobody was looking a smile appeared as she thought about all the grandchildren she would spoil that her manly son would provide.

Before any further conversation could happen the food arrived. And because this was a day Ranma would later call 'Murphy's Day', see Murphy's Law, it was from both Ucchan's and the Nekohatten.

The silence that permeated the room was defining for three seconds until Shampoo broke it with, "Aiya, what spatula girl doing here?"

Ukyo then replied, "I could ask you the same thing, sugar, but we both know the answer. We are here to save Ranma from Akane's cooking wrath,"

"Are you saying I can't cook?" Akane yelled out.

And thus started the war; yes the alliance broke up at lunch when the newcomers were driven out. By this time the hot water had been fixed and Kasumi gave Ranma some hot water to change back.

"Thanks a bunch Kasumi!" Ranma said after getting the water and changing back.

Kasumi then replied, "Oh my, it was no problem Ranma and you are welcome."

Of course this being 'Murphy's Day', Akane suddenly said, "Stop flirting with my sister!"

Ukyo then asked, "Don't you have enough fiancées Ranchan?

And Shampoo added to that, "Something bad happens to mens who cheat on Amazon wives."

Then Ukyo said, "Ranchan wants me not you, you Amazon hussy."

Akane said to that, "well she can have him, I don't want that pervert!" She remembered what Ranma had said a moment ago then puts it down as him just trying to make her look bad.

Shampoo then said as she readied her bonbori, "Arien loves me! Right, Arien?"

Ukyo readied her Combat spatula and said, "Ranchan loves me, hussy"

Kasumi then interjected, "Oh my, Ranma, if you just picked one then you would not have to worry about this anymore."

Ranma highly doubted that then replied, "I have never been allowed to make a decision before, why start now."

Akane then said, "Just pick one of us, Baka. Or we will beat the choice out of you." Then as if to prove a point, she brings out her Mallet-san.

Ukyo agreed, saying, "Akane is right, Ranchan. Who are you going to pick?" She tightened her grip on the combat spatula.

Shampoo, still holding her bonbori, says, "Arien pick shampoo, Right Arien."

His mind raced with curse words and escape plans and unfortunately all promised more pain than answering.

He asked, "Whose honor is the most important?" And thinks 'delay tactics, why answer today what you can answer tomorrow?'

However, this day's run of horrible luck could, to Ranma, only be due to the universe trying to rid Genma's bad karma by having him pay the price, probably because Genma sold him out again for rice.

Ukyo then said, "Although we each feel our own honor is most important, you should just say who you will marry, Ranchan."

Shampoo says again only this time more forcefully "Arien pick shampoo, Right Arien."

Akane said, "Pick now, Baka"

Ranma said with a little heat and a little hurt in his voice, "Why should I, none of you will care if I do. Tomorrow you will be back to this situation and nothing will change. Besides even if I choose the other two will only try to kill me. As I see it making a decision is the wrong thing to do."

Nabiki noted that Ranma must really be in 'Battle Mode' if he were being this intelligent and coherent. Nabiki may have not liked a lot of things about Ranma but she did notice in battle he was far more intelligent. And that went beyond his combat knowledge; she had heard some of the stories and had seen some of the signs for herself that what he learned in class, even though, oddly enough, he usually slept in class, was applied in his fighting.

They were mad at him for thinking so little of them, and then they hit him all at once and said simultaneously, "I never want to see you again!" Actually shampoo said, "Go to very bad place and no return!" But it meant the same thing.

Ranma sailed through the air toward the Koi pond wondering how things could possibly get worse, before everyone noticed a strange mist. As he splashed into the pond, the mist rolled over, obscuring the pond from vision. Seconds later, the mist vanished. As the girls waited anxiously for Ranma's head to pop up from the surface, they began to get worried. When he did not surface they got even more worried. A quick check of the Koi pond proved he was not there, but oddly neither were the fish. This was odd, because the fish were replaced yesterday and the pond should have been full of them.

Shampoo gasped and then said, "Aiiie ya! Shampoo think Arien really go to very bad place!" The others went wide eyed as they realized their last words to him.

Of course, Soun had begun to cry again, Genma had begun to rant about how dishonorable his ungrateful son was to have run away, and Nodoka walked away in silence.

Nodoka was in thought, 'I definitely missed something, now I may have lost my only child. What did I do wrong?' She continued thinking but was unable to come to any conclusions.

Ukyo was the next to speak, and she said, "I doubt he will return after that last hit, from what I can tell, he has nothing to return here for" Ukyo turned and left. Shampoo nodded and left as well.

Akane had the sick feeling in her stomach that she just did something very wrong. As she entered the dining area Nabiki said, as she was leaving, "You finally drove Ranma away, Akane. You should be very happy. After all no more engagement to 'a perverted boy,' right?"

It was not until late that night that the full implications as to what she had done hit her and she cried herself to sleep, insulting herself for not caring enough to try and keep Ranma instead of beating on him.

* * *

Senna smiled as she watched the events unfold. All was going according to plan. Arranging for the teleportation when Ranma hit the water was a little harder then normal since it was cold water and usually hot water is used. However, hot water was not an option, yet.

She watched the signs of the teleport appear in the lake and whispered to herself, "Welcome home, 'lost one'."


	3. C2 Changes

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company). 

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 2 – Changes

* * *

Ranma emerged from the water and found she was in a lake. Wondering how hard she was hit this time she looked up to see if she could identify the time by the sun's position. Although not many things can truly scare Ranma, looking UP and seeing the Earth was defiantly one of them. The damage she had taken, plus the physical exhaustion, and finally the strange sight up in the sky finally took its toll. Ranma barely managed to reach shore before the world went black before her eyes. She knew no more, until she woke up on the shore. A girl was hanging over her with a look of concern, while another one stood nearby. 

"Are you alright?" The girl asked Ranma, concern in her voice.

Ranma said, "I'll let ya know when my head stops hurting," Ranma groaned and tried to stand, but was forced to stop as the pain in her head increased dramatically. She then held her head for a second but gave even that up as she then nearly fainted again.

The girl looked at Ranma's efforts with concern, and said, "Let's get you to the doctor,"

Ranma was picked up the other girl who was present, and was carried. As she was carried, she barely overheard any of what was said. The only thing she really heard was when one of the girls commented on how light she was. This annoyed her slightly; after all, she lost a great deal of muscle when she turned into a girl.

The doctor herself was a lot like Tofu, in her manner and skill. And the clinic was like many she had seen, and was a lot bigger than Tofu's office. It was more of a hospital, but not quite big enough to be called one. But there was something at the back of her mind that was out of place, something that was causing her fight or flight instincts to begin to kick in. Ranma would not let it, but the flight part was telling her something she did not understand. There was something very wrong here, but everyone seemed very nice, and the only person who looked like a fighter was that girl who carried her, and she was no where near her standards, and definitely not enough to cause this reaction.

After two hours of examination, Ranma and the girl who found her left the doctor's office. The girl then turned as they walked and said, "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you my name in the rush to bring you in to see the doctor. I'm Dekiko. What's your name?"

Ranma smiled and then replied, "I'm Ranma." Then she looked distant

Ranma at this point took notice of the area. It was like a cross between a large temple and a village. Ranma glanced up at the Earth and felt uneasy. If the Earth is visible from here then why is here not visible to the Earth? Looking back at her current location, she noticed she was in a covered "hallway" with one end opened into a courtyard. 'That must be the lake I was in when I arrived,' she thought looking at the offending body of water. She also could not help but notice how beautiful it was here. However, her flight instincts were flaring up, causing her to be very worried as her instincts were not usually this paranoid.

Dekiko smiled and said nervously, "Well, do you mind if I call you 'Ran-chan'?" You can call me Deki-chan." Ranma's smile disappeared and Dekiko noticed. Dekiko then said nervously, "Did that bring up bad memories?"

Ranma replied, "Yes, the last person who called me that betrayed my trust repeatedly."

Dekiko then smiled again. Although she was still nervous, she said, "Well let's build some good memories, ok Ran-chan?"

Ranma only smiled as a reply, before she realized something and asked, "There are a lot of girls around here, so where are all the guys?"

Dekiko smiled and replied, nervousness gone now they were on a different topic, "Ohh, that's right. You are from Earth. This is one of Earth's hidden moons, Siren. Here on Siren, the male population is less then 10 percent of the whole population. In fact, even that is an optimistic number since most men are only here for a couple years at a time. In truth, if it were not for the rare and occasional male visitor from Earth, then our people would die out. The actual birth rate is only one male per 100 births. As a result of this, wars have broken out over possession of men."

Ranma silently prayed then asked, "There wouldn't be an Amazon tribe here, would there?"

Dekiko replied, "Not that I heard of, but there was a tribe that left our moon to inhabit Earth a long time ago. They settled in a mountainous area of Earth that you now call China and they called themselves Amazons. They left around 12,000 years ago, but we lost contact with them and everyone else around 4,000 years ago. Ohh! I almost forgot to tell you that there is a temporal difference between here and there. It is a 1:4 ratio so a week on earth is a month here. The temporal-magical fields that keeps the moon hidden and out of the normal flow of time also lets us live four times longer then people on earth do."

After a few minutes they arrived at Senna's office. Her office had a look that was somewhere between a military officer's and a priest's office she saw once. It was a bit narrow and looked exactly wide enough to have about five people stand shoulder to shoulder. There was one very large window that was facing west. Ranma knew that this was often done in military camps to intimidate subordinate officers being chewed out in the evening. In front of the window there was a large desk and a huge, comfortable looking chair. It was so big that even the top of Senna's head was below the top of the chair. The rest of the room looked sparsely populated by furniture. There were two smaller chairs that the backs only went to the top of the desk, and even could pass of as part of it if one was not paying attention.

This gave Ranma the impression that Senna was very careful, and probably a bit of a control freak. The same type as Nabiki. However, unlike Nabiki, Senna smiled when she saw Ranma. Something in her mind was telling her that it was probably not for any reason she would be able to think of. Senna herself was a tall black haired "Lady." She stood about five foot seven. She had dark, forest green eyes, and had a very strong and peaceful aura about her. The aura was nowhere near Kasumi's 'I can make peace between dogs and cats with a glance' aura, but Ranma felt that Senna was still a very nice person, if you were on her side. Her hair was shoulder blade length and loose. It was also all pulled back and she wore no bangs. This with the narrow glasses she wore gave her a very "librarian" look. She looked like someone who was intelligent enough to know who to get to find out what she needed to know.

Ranma noticed as Senna approached that she was wearing something reminiscent of a shrine maiden's outfit, except instead of red loose pants it was a skirt that was ankle length. Her shirt was like a white gi top with a green belt, only it looked like it was made for appearance since it looked like it was made of silk. The shirt went down to just below her waist, and the belt was around at mid stomach level. Her robe was obviously designed to weigh itself closed, since it had no fasteners and only opened when she was sitting to allow comfort. The robe itself had thick grey band that ran down the middle seam, which is probably why it closed itself. It was a very pale green in color, and had long sleeves, but the shirt under it was longer by about 3 or 4 inches. The robe went down to about four or five inches above the bottom of the skirt. Although the robe closed right down the middle with no overlap it almost looked like a kimono.

* * *

Senna was annoyed, to say the least, but she did not let it show. It was not directed at the two in front of her. No, she was annoyed at the council of idiots who were not ready to accept that their reign of idiocy and poor planning was coming to an end. Now that she thought about it, if she carefully guided Ranma, she would be powerful indeed. After all, Ranma did not know the first thing about ruling. 

Senna acted mildly surprised at this turn of events, saying she expected that a guy would come through. She smiled when Ranma got nervous, then she said that it was usual for abused guys to show up here; however, a girl coming was known to happen.

Senna hated playing dumb, but she would have to keep up the act or Ranma might suspect something was up. Senna was telling the truth in that most people who came from Earth were guys, the last guy she heard of who had come through returned almost immediately. But he was so badly treated by females his phobia turned into an allergy. Not exactly someone likely to sire a lot of children… pity he was cute.

Senna mentioned that Ranma would have to pick up a trade soon for room and board, but such worries could wait for tomorrow. However Ranma was disappointed to hear that she was stuck here until a way to control the transportation was found. Ranma did not like this but had to accept it.

After a short and uneventful meeting with Senna, Ranma was assigned quarters which she was going to share with Dekiko. Senna said that she would speak to Ranma later, but now she had some tasks needing her attention.

* * *

When Ranma entered the room what she saw confirmed her initial impressions of Dekiko. The quarters consisted of five rooms and a walk in storage closet. The first room was what held Ranma's notice. The best way to describe it was an organized mess of books. The room was obviously organized but cluttered. The shelves were full and the table was stacked with books and about five were opened, with papers stacked in three piles… Dekiko was a bookworm. Then Ranma remembered Deki-chan's nervousness earlier and realized that she was not entirely social. The other rooms were two bedrooms, a washroom/furo, and a kitchen. After checking the kitchen, Ranma noticed a large supply of some kind of instant foods… but no foods she recognized. 

Ranma started to do something she had avoided for the last three hours. She thought. Ranma did the math. 'I am stranded on a strange planet, or is that moon, with no way back to Earth. A place where men are apparently treated worse than the girls back home treated me. I do not know how to survive here since I do no know what is edible and worse yet, I have no way to stay in my cursed form to avoid unnecessary trouble.'

Just then Dekiko walked in and said, "We are in luck. I just got a shipment of special 'beauty soap.' It is special soap that lets you soak as long as you like and not prune up. From my understanding, it creates a layer in your pores that keeps water out. It is also supposed to help eliminate wrinkles but I have my doubts. Want to give it a try? After you are done I can show you our foods. I bet you are hungry."

Ranma simply nodded, while her stomach confirmed the statement.

Dekiko then said, "I would join you but I have a research assignment from Senna about a princess who ruled here little over 4000 years ago. It sounds boring but a job is a job." With that she returned to the pile of books in the main room.

Ranma went off and used the soap, and found out that it was more effective than the stuff she got that time. The bathroom was as big as the Tendo's, but the furo was bigger. The furo was huge to say the least, it looked like seven or more people would fit in it. She noticed a lot of pink fluffy things everywhere, and realized that she did not see any pink anywhere else in the 'apartment'. If she had to stay here she would need to get some blue or very dark red to balance this out, but she would tolerate it for now. This also left a few questions to ask her roommate later.

After a decent dinner, although no where near Kasumi level, Ranma decided to practice her martial arts. So she asked Dekiko, "Is there a Dojo or open field around here where I can practice my martial arts?"

Dekiko then replied, "Yes, there is a large meeting hall near by and I am sure that nobody would mind you using it. Just exit our quarters and take the hall to the right, then take the left path when the hall forks. You can't miss it."

So Ranma left and followed the directions she was given. Her first thought was sarcastic, it was, 'Large she said, the school gym would make a large dojo. This is the size of that American sport field, Football I think they called it.' The "Hall" was about that large in size and had large arcing pillars from the sides at about 15 yards apart, which met at the top. It was domed and about an average of 40 meters high with 60 meters in the center. At one end there was an obvious stage and podium.

The Pillars were made of some kind of white stone and the walls and ceiling were pail blue, almost white in color. The floor was a hard wood design with random looking lengths that ran the width of the room. The room felt like it was centuries old but some of the floorboards looked recently replaced.

Despite there being about two dozen people here, it felt empty. Perfect. So Ranma started practicing her art. She was three hours into it before she noticed four or five dozen onlookers. After she stopped she was surrounded.

One girl asked, "Can you teach me to dance like that?"

And a few nodded in agreement. To which Ranma nervously said, "It isn't dancing, it's Martial Arts. It's the art of fighting."

A few girls suddenly lost interest and left but this still left about 30 others still waiting to hear her answer. Senna showed up and said, "If Ranma will be teaching she will have to clear it with me. She is from Earth after all." She paused before continuing, "Ranma, would you follow me? I have some things to discuss with you."

Senna then escorted Ranma away for a chat. Coming to a secluded spot, Senna turned to Ranma and said, "There are some things that I did not get a chance to talk to you about before you left with Dekiko, most of which are about where you are right now. First tell me what you know and I will add as much as I can." Ranma replied, "I know that this 'moon' is called Siren. It's primarily women here and there are very few men, also that a month here is a week on earth but aside from that not much."

Senna smiled and said, "Ok, for basics you know what you need to know but being from Earth there will be a few minor things that Dekiko will have to assist you in. First, let me tell you about the environment here. As far as weather goes, this area is a warm and temperate zone, as is most of Siren. Some people from Earth compare the architecture in the city near by as being similar to Italian. It is true enough in many ways after all the architects came from that area on Earth about 800 years ago. We do not really have much reliance on clocks here and have a very relaxed populace."

Senna stopped to let what she was saying sink in then continued, "There are no formal schools here, as it is more of a trade school environment where people are simply trained to do what they like and formal education like school on earth is unnecessary. Why teach history to a mechanic? Why teach algebra to a record keeper? Why teach other languages to a builder? It is just wasted time. Focus on what is necessary and let interest add to that."

Ranma smiled then said, "I agree with that, school is boring anyway."

Senna then smiled more and said, "The temple compound has about 250 residents and is effectively a self sufficient community; the "Community Hall" is a building that we built for anything we would need a building that size for. Almost everything that is needed is provided from within the community, but many of the things we want, but cannot produce can still be brought in. However, all residents are expected to 'work' for their rent and spending money. Since you are obviously skilled in martial arts, how about you teach it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the evenings? As a plus you will be given access to local Martial arts and teaching methods."

Ranma smiled happily and agreed. Ranma then asked, "How long will I be stuck here?"

Senna looked at her and said, "I can not answer you there. Everyone who comes here comes for a reason. Until you are ready, using anything to force you back could be risky. Most return as suddenly as they arrive, although there are a few who can travel between worlds at will. I will not lie to you, I can send you back now, but I can tell that there is a reason for you to be here and if it important enough the magic will fail and the result could be most painful."

A depressed, "Oh..." was all Ranma could give, but she then lightened up a bit remembering how her day started. Ranma then thought, 'What do I have to return to?' and to that she had no answers.

After a short discussion, which she barely paid attention to, Ranma went to bed. Perhaps… just perhaps things are looking up.

* * *

It was a loud night as several voices were heard, and everyone in the area knew exactly to whom they belonged to. 

"Mars Fire Soul!"

"Jupiter Supreme Thunder!"

"Venus Crescent Beam!"

"Moon Tiara Action!"

These attacks were all flying at a Demon of some kind. The Mercury computer registered it as Youma, so the Senshi thought it was just a leftover that somehow only now came out of hiding. However, it seemed too strong for the Senshi in their basic "normal" form. The problem was its energy was not matching any known pattern; after Mercury said this, the others agreed that it must be a new enemy. Which meant Pluto probably lied about no more big challenges until after the Great Ice.

Dodge, duck, roll, and jump. The Youma easily got out of the way of all of their attacks. Mercury was studying this creature looking for a weak point. The Youma in question looked like some weird kangaroo, lobster, and human hybrid. It had what looked like a human head only the lobster carapace seemed to form a helmet of some kind, the tail looked like a lobster tail simply enough as with the back and chest, while the legs looked like longer and more upright kangaroo legs, but it could jump very high. The torso was big enough to complete the kangaroo look, but was "armored" in the lobster like shell. The arms looked like lobster claws. However, they were muscular like the legs, and it seemed able to "jump" off of them as easily as it did its legs and to the same heights too. And that shell had a lot of spikes.

Despite its appearance, it seemed to rely entirely on speed and actually had little if any defense. Which means if even one of the attacks landed, it was as good as dust.

Jupiter yelled between attacks, "We are getting nowhere fighting like this; we need to do something quick to beat this thing."

Moon replied the same way, "Agreed, and why can't we transform to our Super and Eternal forms?"

Mars yelled back, "Worry about that later, and let's just kill this thing first."

Venus practically screamed out, "Hey Mercury, does this thing have a weakness?"

Mercury put away her computer and replied, "It is only relying on speed. If even one attack hits it, it gets dusted."

Mars yelled out, while shooting off another fire soul, "Then how do we hit it?"

A voice called out, "Easily. Saturate the area with attacks."

"Uranus world shaking." another voice called out.

Then a third yelled, "Silence glaive surprise!"

Then as one all the Senshi started to fire off their attacks. Eventually, Moon scored the kill when the Tiara returned through the Youma's back.

Hearing the sirens in the background, Moon took her Serenity persona and said, "Meet up at the shrine in 30 minutes, and if any of you see Pluto, drag her there screaming and kicking if necessary. She has some explaining to do."

Uranus thought about the blond as she, Neptune and Saturn were returning home to try and locate Pluto. The only thing that kept going through her mind is, 'How, all this time, could I have doubted she was the princess? Especially when she gets like that. Even Pluto would cringe under the princess being that mad.'

* * *

Pluto was just leaving the time gates after seeing Ranma being teleported to Siren. She appeared in the living room, just as the others were discussing where to look for her, but they had not noticed her yet. She spoke up. "And why would you be looking for me?" 

Uranus (now Haruka Tenoh) replied, "To ask why you lied to us."

Pluto actually lost her composure, and asked shocked, "What?"

Neptune (now Michiru Kaioh) then said, "You said that Galaxia was our last big challenge before the Great Ice."

Pluto after quickly regained her composure, then said simply, "She was supposed to be. I just checked the gates there were not supposed to be any fights for the next year."

"Setsuna-mama," Hotaru said, drawing attention to herself. She was, after all her proper age, but she still called her Setsuna-mama. She continued, "We just fought a Youma ten minutes ago. And Ami could not identify it."

Pluto then looked thoughtful and then said, "There is going to be a meeting soon right?" The other outers nodded, so she continued, "Ok, I will be there." And with that, she returned to the Time Gates.

* * *

"Where is she?" Growled Rei 

Suddenly Usagi piped up and growled, "About time you got here."

Before things got out of hand Pluto spoke from behind Usagi, "I can not see or predict the current enemy or its affects on the timeline."

This got some attention.

Luna, after a moment, asked "What!"

Pluto said simply, "You heard what I said."

Ami decided to change the topic before something happened and she would lose this chance she spoke, "Pluto, can you tell us why we can not reach our more powerful forms?"

Pluto replied, "That I can answer; first you must remember what happened to Galaxia." She continued preventing interruption "she became so powerful that it corrupted her enough for Chaos to get her. This reduction in power was a fail safe for if we got too powerful needlessly, it somehow failed with Galaxia though. This 'limiter' is tied to the Time Gates through the Ginzuishou, thus since the gates cannot see this enemy you cannot power up that much. Also, it is dangerous to stay at such levels needlessly."

Ami then spoke up, sensing the break, and said, "How so?"

Pluto then replied, "Is the human body designed to handle such energy? No it is not, as such our powers would have to go into conservation mode every now and then to keep us from burning out. Mine is a little different, because of the gate but I still have lost all my higher attacks and transformations."

Then Luna spoke, "I do not remember that from the Moon kingdom."

Pluto said, "It was a closely guarded secret that only the Senshi and the Queen, plus a few others knew. It was on a need to know basis, and at the time, you did not need to know. Not to mention that back then the higher forms were rarely used."

Luna looked miffed but kept quiet.

Artemis then did something that proved that he did not know when to keep quiet. He said, "Luna, if I did not know better I would think that there are Moon Kingdom things that you do not know of that you cannot blame on memory problems."

The Senshi decided at this point to ignore, with difficulty, the cat fight and continue the discussion.

Rei then spoke "I have two questions for you Pluto. First how quickly can we access our higher powers, and second, who is the red headed girl I saw in my fire readings yesterday and today. I know she is not Naru."

Pluto raised an eyebrow to this and said, "To access your higher powers, you must be in a genuine life threatening situation. However, I recommend you all train your powers and take up some fighting classes. The good news is that you should all have access to your powered up attacks but they will take time to charge up before they are fired. As for the red head, she is an unawakened Senshi."

Luna then spoke up, after beating Artemis thoroughly, "Senshi of what? Everyone is accounted for."

Pluto smirked very evilly in the direction of Artemis and he screamed, "Not that place! That place is pure evil!" He then dashed and hid under the table.

Luna was visibly confused as Pluto said, "This one was not sent forward, but rather was reincarnated naturally. Her powers will help in this fight, since she specializes in mass removal of weaker Youma. On a power scale, she is about Mercury's level. However, she, unlike the rest of you, has to draw on her current life's combat skills for one on one fighting."

Luna who was still looked lost spoke as Artemis peeked his head out from under the table, "You still haven't said who she is, and can we awaken her now?"

Pluto continued, "She has to be handled carefully at the moment, as she is not ready mentally; I was already taking steps to awaken her safely. I am worried because she is as powerful and far more dangerous without her Senshi magic limiting her non-Senshi powers. Her powers are as much a danger to her as they are to others, so she must not be awakened too fast. Senshi healing magic will keep those powers in check, but it will be a step back in power for her at first. However, it is a necessary one, once she learns to harness her Senshi powers she will be back to where she was. Unless she awakens, she will also remain mortal, and if she gets too old then she will not be able to awaken safely. As to what she is the Senshi of, it is a hidden moon that even I have some difficulty tracking. It is closer to the earth then the moon itself is, and it is out of temporal phase, similar to our current enemies. It is still inhabited as well."

Several of the Senshi gasped at this

Pluto ignored this and finished her long-winded speech "Its name is Siren."

Upon hearing that name Artemis dove under the table again.

Luna double blinked and started rolling around laughing

Eyes darted from the now shaking table to the laughing Luna and back then back to Pluto.

Pluto smiled and said "Siren still has the same female/male ratio that the planet Venus had."

"Which is?" Ami prompted Pluto smiled and disappeared saying just as she vanished in a light flash of light, "Over 90 percent female."

Then Mamoru, who had been quiet all this time, muttered, "I understand that reaction now Artemis." which of course nobody but Artemis, who had moved to behind him, heard

* * *

It had been three weeks, and the Senshi were faring little better. They were holding ground and winning fights, but this was a war of attrition, and the enemy was clearly at the advantage for time. In the ways of numbers and tactics, the enemy clearly held the advantage. The enemy also did not restrict their attacks to Juuban like prior enemies; they were hitting many of the nearby wards. There were also many daylight attacks, far more then there were in the past, but still enough night attacks to show a preference. 

The Youma attacks were always the same style. There would be one or two noisy ones that would draw as many Senshi as possible, while three or four would sneak in to drain the energy of a few random people then leave when the noisy ones were dusted. When the Senshi started looking out and specifically hunting the quiet ones they noticed that the quiet ones seemed to run when confronted, energy or no. One tactic that was used at the shelters when a Youma showed up was to play a recording of Sailor moon's speech. It worked for two days until the Youma figured it out and started watching as to where the voice came from before they ran.

By the end of the third week, all schools and non-essential businesses were closed and many areas were evacuated into smaller defendable areas. The Senshi found ways to fight one on one so they broke up into smaller teams so that they could always have two near every shelter. Their parents, who all knew at this point, were concerned but were being supportive, especially after Moon's father tried his shotgun on a Youma and discovered it was useless. After that, he felt equally so.

The Youma hit Nerima very hard. The fiancées, Saotomes, Tendos (except Kasumi), and the rest of the wrecking crew were all blamed for that, since it was generally felt Ranma could have saved them.

Then the attacks suddenly stopped. The Senshi admitted to not knowing why, but recommended staying cautious. The Senshi decided to use Mercury as the spokeswoman, since the others were easier to provoke into saying things that might make things worse, this was agreed with Usagi and Rei in mind, but Minako was also a definite out for obvious reasons.


	4. C3 Challanges

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company). 

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 3 - Challenges

* * *

Ranma awoke in a strange room. She initially panicked at the unfamiliar sights, but then remembered the day before. She had come to be 'trapped' in her own worst nightmare… well, maybe not the worse. She suddenly shuddered and thought, 'stupid Kuno'. As her eyes focused, she took the chance to get a really good look at her room. It was undecorated, to say the least. There was a single bed designed for a single person. Ranma rarely slept in beds since she spent most of her time on the road. Thus, that was the first thing and last thing she had noticed about it last night. There was a simple dresser. It had enough room for more than a few changes of clothing, a chair and a large mirror. There was a storage closet off to a side.

The layout was simple enough; entering the room, the door was on the left side of the entering wall, and the closet was to the immediate right, on the right wall. The bed was in the far corner and faced the door's wall. The dresser was in the other corner against the wall so that the mirror faced the bed. The room looked just big enough for the furniture in it, and the distance between the bed and the door wall was just enough to get to the closet. Her room was the 'right' room of the apartment.

She got dressed, and noted that she really needed a change of clothing. As she left, she looked at the apartment again. The entry door was centered on the far wall from the rooms, while directly opposite the door was the walk-in storage closet, which was closed at the moment. Ranma remembered seeing it opened when she first arrived. To either side were the doors to the bedrooms. Then, in the side walls there were the doors to the dining area/kitchen, and the bathroom/furo. The doors were almost to the far side of those walls. The furo was on her side and the kitchen was on Dekiko's. In the middle of the room there was a large table, which looked like it could sit a dozen people, but it was covered in various books and papers. There were more than a few book cases in the room. Six, actually and not small ones either. They covered the walls where there were no doors. And they were filled with books.

Ranma thought again, 'Dekiko is a book worm,' as she realized just how many books were stuffed into the room.

By the door there was the usual entry mat. At that moment, Dekiko entered carrying a package. Dekiko saw her new friend and smiled a little, then spoke, "Senna sent you a small package to help you get started. She guessed that you did not bring a change of clothing with you, so she sent some, plus a little money as an advance on your first pay check to get some essentials." Dekiko then handed the package to Ranma, before she winked and said, "She hopes it is in your size."

"Tell her I said thanks!" Ranma exclaimed, then continued, "I hope so too. I'm going to take a bath and change then… if you don't mind that is."

Dekiko replied, "Go ahead. I already had mine. I should have breakfast ready soon."

Ranma smiled and walked off to take said bath.

* * *

After her bath Ranma stood naked looking at the latest enemy of 'his' pride… panties. 'Odd,' she thought, but shrugged it off when she realized that she did not send a bra. Then she realized something else. She did not recall a single person who looked like they wore one here. Well she was not about to, as the Americans say 'Look a gift horse in the mouth', although she never understood that saying. Plus, she always felt, especially after the number of times her father sold 'his' hand in marriage, personally insulted by that saying.

The rest of what was provided was simple enough. A pair of black pants, not Chinese, but similar enough that it would fit her usual attire, and a shirt that was a simple red pull-on shirt. The waist of the pants was elastic, and was pulled over the bottom of the shirt, while the sleeves of the shirt were almost to her elbow. She saw a black ribbon. Ranma set that aside; she might have to be a she now, and for the foreseeable future, but she was not ready to look that girly. She also noticed a black, elastic felt covered thingy. She had no understanding of what it really was for. However, there was a picture under it that showed it went in the hair. She took out her Dragon's Whisker and put in the thing that the picture called a scrunch. She decided to abandon the pigtail. After all, she only did that because of the Dragon's Whisker. And since she was starting new, she decided to go back to the ponytail style 'he' enjoyed before the Dragon Whisker. Her hair was a little longer lately after the Dragon Whisker lost all its magic and let 'his' hair grow normally. The ponytail was from the middle of her head, going down to her shoulders. There was a pair of shoes like what she normally wore, but they were obviously designed with girls in mind.

After she was dressed she took her clothes to her room and dumped them on her bed, then went to eat. She simply had a quick meal that Dekiko made and inhaled it with her usual gusto.

After breakfast, she decided to take a walk and with Dekiko already back buried in what ever she was reading, she left without further word.

After she left Dekiko muttered to herself, "Senna might be right about her…"

* * *

Ranma was walking and frowning. She was lost in thought about events over the last 24 hours. She decided to just stay and relax for now. After that last hit last night she felt that the people back home would need a little while to cool off. And besides, if what Dekiko said was true, if she left now then it would be only six hours, if that. No, she decided to stay a week, for now. That would give everyone a couple of days to cool off. And she could be back in time for school Monday. Not that she actually cared, but 'his' mother was fairly vocal about 'his' recent grades.

About 20 minutes later she was walking along a short fence. It was brick at the bottom, with small bars running up for support and a thick pipe along the top. Well, to Ranma it was thick; to a tight rope walker it was the ideal size. As she walked, she realized that she did not know what day it was, so she decided to ask someone. After all, if one day equates to six hours back home, how would she know when Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were? She arrived back at the apartment, and it looked like Dekiko had not moved. However, the books looked a good deal different.

"Hi Ranchan." Dekiko said, barely looking up.

"Hi. You wouldn't know what day it is would you?" asked Ranma in her usual intelligent sounding way.

Dekiko glanced up a second, lost in thought. Then she replied, "It is Saturday."

"Ahh." was the intellectual response. Ranma then said, "So, you said you're looking up some princess, right?"

Dekiko smiled and nodded and said, while still smiling, "We have got to work on your linguistic skills."

Ranma blinked, then said, "Ohh, you mean the way I talk, right?" As Ranma saw Dekiko's nod, she smiled and said, "Sorry, it is more habit that I use that bad grammar.

That got Dekiko's attention, and she said, "So, you do not talk like that normally?"

Ranma then said, "I down play my language skills 'cause I was raised to fight, and my pops taught me to feign dumb in battle and let my opponent underestimate me, but you know, some of it is my normal speech. I was effectively in a combat situation for the last year, so it will take some time to turn it off." Then a moment later she added "I was also raised for ten years in the woods by someone with horrible manners and speaking skills."

Dekiko then giggled at the last part and said, "Well, we will get you to using big words again before you know it."

"I'm not that bad you know." Came the indignant protest.

The two chatted for the next two hours about her lingual skills, well twenty minutes of that, the rest of the time was life comparisons. They both learned more about each other's lives. Ranma learned that Dekiko was raised from six in this compound after she lost her entire family during the last war. Ranma was more than a little scared about it being over a dozen guys and who got them. This led Ranma to be even more convinced that staying a girl was a good idea. Ranma gave a 'revised' edition of 'her' life. Of course, the fiancées were male in her version but a little lie would not hurt her.

When they finished, it was time for dinner, and a quick cooking lesson. Dekiko noticed that Ranma was clearly a survivalist, and a good cook. However, she noted Ranma needed to learn the basic tastes of Siren. Ranma was helping cook, as she insisted on knowing how to prepare food here. Dekiko asked cutely, "Why do you want to learn so badly? Is my cooking not good enough?"

Then she noticed a very unexpected reaction. Ranma froze, like a wild animal in a spotlight. The first reaction Ranma gave after thawing out was to apologize for some offence. Dekiko remembered the doctor saying that Ranma would be a little emotionally unbalanced after the medication she was given for a day. However, that could not explain this entirely, even with that concussion. Dekiko took about five minutes to calm Ranma down and after finishing cooking she left Ranma to eat and went to find Senna.

* * *

A very unnerved Dekiko walked into Senna's office. This raised Senna's eyebrow, and worried her a little. 'Did she find out Ranma was a he? No, if that were the case she would likely to have been quite happy at the idea of rooming with a cute boy.' Senna thought.

"High Priestess?" Dekiko asked very cautiously and nervously.

Senna then was a little more concerned and replied, "What is wrong? And I have asked you to call me Na-chan, or at least Senna." She added that last bit for two reasons; one, the girl in front of her felt like a younger sister, and two, to help cheer her up.

Dekiko looked nervous. She always saw Senna as an aunt. She replied, "What kind of life did Ranma lead before she came here?"

Senna was not ready for that one.

Dekiko did not notice Senna's hesitation as she continued, "When I teased her slightly about my cooking, she had a nervous break down. Why?"

Senna decided to tell a little truth and said, "Over the last year she was mistreated, but the worse came from one of her closest friends. Before you ask why be friends with a bully, keep in mind that she spent ten years learning only how to fight. Thus, to her, she would endure anything to keep her current friends. That friend was very jealous of Ranma; Ranma could fight very well, swim very well, cook very well, as well as sew to a lesser extent. Her friend fought like a bull, where Ranma danced. Ranma could float very easily, but her friend sank like a rock. Her friend could not make a scarf without messing up badly. But of it all the thing that was the worst was her friend and cooking." She paused to let this sink in.

Senna continued, "To say her friend is a bad cook is like saying that green is sometimes used by plants. That is to say, it is a gross understatement. Her cooking was so bad that she was preemptively fired by every major restaurant in her area. She was not even allowed to be a waitress at any of them. But Ranma is a first class cook. Add to that the fact that she gets violent every time someone shows her up. Also, her father treated her like the princess she was not. Every time her cooking was insulted, Ranma would get hurt. Thus, your situation. I am sure she is feeling better by now. After all, she does think with her stomach."

Dekiko thanked Senna and left, and as Senna predicted Ranma seemed back to normal. But Dekiko knew that Senna picked her to help Ranma heal, so she would do all that she could do to help her new 'sister.' She smiled, liking that thought.

* * *

The following Monday was Ranma's first class. About 30 people showed up but only 11 stayed. Ranma then noticed that her students wore a special stylized shirt that acted like a bra. Ranma made a mental note that she should pick one up for herself. Ranma taught a modified version of her style, and was beginning to work it into a new Ryuu. She was planning on calling it 'Hayoui Kakuu Isei Ryuu' (fast aerial power style). It did fit her type of fighting, and once she dumped the last of the perverted components and devised some new advanced kata she would be all set. However, the basic kata could wait; she had a class to break in.

At the end of the day Ranma, who, despite having done more than her class, was still completely unfazed by any of it, watched her sore students leave. And she had only showed them some basic stretches and exercises.

At the end of class on Wednesday, the same students were leaving and she smiled, noticing that the ones who were left were here because they were too stubborn to leave yet. Ranma thought, 'This is fun, teaching is really enjoyable.' She watched in satisfaction as her class left and chuckled mentally to herself. It was the drive she enjoyed watching in her students. Plus, when she saw a few working extra hard she knew she was doing a good job.

* * *

Midday Thursday, Ranma was doing the same things she did on Sunday and Tuesday, a fact that many of her students noticed. Nobody thought to inquire, but just assumed that walking on a fence was some odd Earthling behavior. A few seasoned veterans were impressed by exactly what this was a sign of: skill, patience, drive, and training habit. It came as no surprise that these were also the 'star' students in the class.

Senna, of course, was well aware of Ranma's activities. A few of the guards were alarmed multiple times as Ranma was moving around so randomly, fast, and unpredictably that they were complaining… that, she enjoyed. The ones who were complaining were the ones that usually were caught sleeping at their posts. Still, something had to be done; Ranma was clearly bored out of her mind. So she sent a package with a note in it to Ranma to help with the situation.

* * *

After Ranma got the package, she opened it, revealing a flute and three books, 'A Beginners Guide to Flute Playing', 'Music to Flute By', and 'Classical Fluting'. She then read the note, which said, 'It was noticed that you were hard pressed to spend your time doing something, so I sent this package to you to help you fill it.' It was signed Senna, and had a postscript, 'P.S. If you must annoy the guards try to keep it limited to the ones who are sleeping or close to it.'

After reading the note Ranma chuckled at the guard portion. 'They really need to work on their attention span' Ranma thought. Ranma then grabbed her package, including what came inside it, and went to practice in the hall. As it happened, there were a few of her students there and they absentmindedly listened to Ranma learn. At first they chuckled, but then they could actually hear her improve.

Ranma, who was occupied in her music, was beginning to notice that the flute and music felt familiar. She could swear that she actually played it before. Then, she wondered why she actually decided to try playing it. She was also beginning to reevaluate her life, and the many parts to it. Ultimately, it all came back to Jusenkyo, which is where she got this body. Although she would have rather kissed Happosai than admit to it, her girl form actually felt from day one that it was normal for her to be a girl. That thought disturbed her greatly for some reason.

Ranma smiled slightly. If only her mother were here with her, she would have banned Ranma from hiding as a girl. Of course, her pop would want to say something, but with all the cute girls around he would have a diabetic fit if anyone of them said 'look at the cute panda' and the resulting big watery eyes that would spawn.

Regardless of anything that could be said or done about life back in Nerima, it was not pleasant. The more Ranma thought about it, especially that last day there, the more she decided it was much better for her to be here for now; even if it did mean being female.

* * *

Senna, who was walking past, noticed and made a mental note along the lines of, 'I've heard of being a fast learner but this beyond anything I have ever heard of.'

In later months, Ami and Dekiko would get together and compare observations on Ranma, and the conclusion they would come to was that Ranma was a true mimic. In anything that was simple repetition; Ranma could do it with amazing precision. Ranma's mind was especially sharp while in battle, but it also, in stressful battles, took away the cheerful, happy, 'my prowess in battle is only over matched by my ego' mask, and Ranma's true self would appear. Ranma also had the uncanny ability of fast adaptation. From what they could tell, Ranma gained intelligence from her mother, who had shown it after the recent threat was eliminated. Adaptability was a learned trait from her father, and that Ranma had a natural eidetic memory, allowing her to store large quantities of information. However, all this skill was focused entirely on all forms of the arts, like music, painting and martial. This left anything else like math and physics out in the cold, and Ranma would, as result, always do poorly in school.

That is why Ranma was already done with the first book and playing like she had practiced for a week when she called it a night six hours later, much to the surprise of everyone nearby.

* * *

Senna decided to come up with another time occupier for Ranma, because if she kept this up, the flute would be mastered in few months. She then noticed a small report from Dekiko on Ranma back during the Silver Millennium. She slapped her face and groaned when the report said she was a master of all arts back then… skills from the past life were surfacing. The amount of possible doubt was declining, especially when back then her instrument was the flute. Pluto was right… of course.

* * *

It was the morning two days after Ranma had disappeared. The Kunos were both happy and pissed at the event, for opposite reasons at his disappearance. The school was still damaged from an early morning fight, but this was not a fight between residents, this was a fight between a few Youma and the Sailor Senshi. The martial artists quickly learned most of their special attacks were useless since they relied mostly on Ki energy, and Youma eat Ki. Kuno had come to school after that with a real katana. Akane had no real problem since she was one of the few who did not rely on Ki; which to say meant she was ignored and simply knocked away and knocked out fast. Shampoo did not do too badly physically but her pride was hurt badly when she was no match for the Youma. Happosai was elsewhere and would not say what he was doing. Due to her age Cologne had little physical strength and relied almost entirely on Ki, thus was ineffective in the fight. The others were banged up badly but the Sailor Senshi saved them all.

Ukyo had not gone to school yesterday or today when the fight broke out. She was out looking for Ranma with Konatsu. She was lucky that, between her and Konatsu, they could, with great difficulty; beat the only Youma they saw. However, they had to spend a day resting from that battle.

Finding no leads after a week of looking, Ukyo gave up. With most of Tokyo under random Youma attacks many people in the harder hit areas were moved to shelters both inside and outside the city. This caused her some problems when traveling between the city's different wards. Nermia was said to be next on the list.

* * *

Saturday morning came, and Ranma was getting used to this place and not awaking wet. Ranma put on her usual garb, which was basically what she got from Senna plus that fighting shirt instead of the pull-on. She then went to eat and bathe. Today however something amusing, from her perspective anyway, happened. A guy appeared in the hot springs in the temple compound. Ranma was aware that the girls were going to be a lot like Shampoo was but what she saw had Ranma nearly needing a clinic visit it was so funny.

Ranma saw a sudden pillar of hot water; Ranma remembered being told that this pillar only occurs on the destination side of the transportation, and it indicated someone appearing. When 'he' appeared, he was only wearing a towel. And he looked, from Ranma's perspective, like a girl shy and cuter version of 'his friend' Daisuke. Ranma watched, and expected a cry of pervert, but those girls had a very familiar look in their eyes. It was a cross between the look Shampoo had every time she looked at him, and the look that Happosai had as he was leaping at her chest.

Ranma decided to let the fun happen and not interfere. It started with just eight girls backing him into a corner, but he jumped the wall, still wearing just a towel, and was running down the street. He got as far as a mile before the adrenalin ran out and he collapsed in the middle of the street where he was swarmed. Ranma never did hear what happened to him, but the perverted grins on those girls made him thank every Kami for that soap.

* * *

When Ranma got back to the room, she found another package from Senna. This one was art supplies. This time the art was painting. Contrary to popular belief, Ranma could draw very well, thus when she tried painting it was pretty good, just purely photographic. There was little, if any, interpretation or impression. Senna noticed this and decided to ask Ranma to do something she knew from Ranma's file that she should fail at.

Senna approached Ranma late afternoon on Sunday and said, "You are fairly good at that, but I have a request."

Ranma replied, "Sure, you did pay for all this."

Senna smiled and said with obvious amusement, "I want you to paint Happiness." Then she left before Ranma could say anything. It should be noted that Senna and Pluto have a lot in common. They both believe in, as they would put it, 'Controlled releases of information'. That means they treat information a lot like money. And they were both tight wads when it came to information. Ironically, they were very free spenders of real money.

Senna knew Ranma had trouble understanding feelings much less expressing them. And even more to the point Ranma just was not raised to think. Ranma was left confused by her request.

At the evening Ranma was still stumped, at least she thought so. And she realized after her last attempt she was hungry. She was so hungry she drew a picture of herself cooking dinner, after she finished and realized what happened she glared at her stomach for acting on its own again. But it growled back and won the argument.

After she finished eating she noticed she was happy in the picture and decided after a few finishing touches she would give it to Senna.

* * *

Senna was impressed by the picture and sent Ranma off to try other things. Just as Ranma was leaving she turned and asked Senna, "Why are you giving me all this stuff and challenging me to do this, not that I am complaining or nothing. But, I was curious."

Senna smiled and said, "You practice the warrior arts, but you need to learn all arts to live life to the fullest. Few people can accept or do that. In you I can see a lot of potential screaming to come out, and although you are now very good at painting and flute playing you still have along way to go. All arts are the same when used as simple art but all arts can hurt as well. I kind of see you like an adopted niece. And since you are like family, I am doing what I can to help your stay be enjoyable."

At that Ranma turned and left she decided to go back to her arts.

* * *

One and a half month later Ranma was feeling more like this was home, when something happened that even Pluto would have not predicted.

The battle cry of, "Die Ranma!" was yelled.

Ranma immediately saw and splashed Ryoga with her glass of water she was drinking; then ran the pig and his stuff to her room so fast nobody noticed.

When she got there she tied and muffled the pig, then spoke as the pig glared at her, "You should thank me Ryoga. After all I just saved you from being unfaithful to Akane." Ranma then smirked and saw the confusion on the pig's face. She continued, "I know that you are blaming me but I genuinely can not return to earth yet. By the way Ryoga, welcome to my Hell."

At that last statement the pig looked out the window and saw the Earth. The result was the first ever pig fainting from looking up at the Earth from a moon.

When Ryoga woke up he noticed he was still a pig and Ranma was standing nearby playing a flute. Ryoga's brain suddenly skipped a few processing directives. First Ranma claims 'he' saved him from betraying Akane, then that 'he' is in Hell. Ryoga then mentally chuckled and thought, 'Serves him right.' Then 'he' is playing a flute. Wait, Ranma was female the whole time. Something is missing from here.

Ranma noticed the pig had awakened and said, "I got your stuff here. Let's go for a walk. We got words to say to each other." Ranma then splashed Ryoga with hot water, and after Ryoga was dressed and put his pack back on they left via the window and were on the top of a four story building when they stopped to talk.

But before either got a word out they heard a ruckus. When they looked they saw the Daisuke look-a-like running down the street then dog piled by about 30 girls before being carried back the way he came. Ranma then turned to Ryoga and said, "Girls here are worse than the fiancées back home in three ways: one, they are more then willing to share; two, they will never give up as long as they know you are there; and three, engagement or not, if you are seen they will treat you as Shampoo treated me, except that she was restrained by comparison. There is only one guy for every ten girls here. Ryoga, if you have half a brain get lost and get back to Earth. I am trapped here but I will return as soon as I can."

Ryoga got so scared by the way that other guy was treated, and even he saw the Happosai like looks on those girls. He got lost in getting off of the building when he landed he was in front of the Tendo dojo, Ryoga remembered that he was once told his getting lost was not a curse, but it was a form of latent teleportation; it worked by teleporting him based on his emotional state and current desires; and a poor sense of direction.

Ryoga explained what he had seen and left. He never saw the looks on the fiancées as he left, as he did not need to. But why was the entire wrecking crew here?

Cologne was the only one other than Kasumi who was not thinking selfish thoughts. Her thoughts were along the lines of, 'Could son-in-law be on Siren? That would explain everything, and he is the type to end up there.'

* * *

By the end of Ranma's second month she was getting comfortable being a girl. And her music and painting were fairly good. She decided to paint as more of a hobby and focus on her musical and martial arts. The day after Ranma was 'visited' by Ryoga, Dekiko dragged a very nervous redhead to a karaoke bar. After that, Dekiko would never let Ranma live down that she had a great singing voice. Dekiko made a habit of dragging Ranma out every Saturday.

Ranma's schedule at this time was like this: Sunday – paint and play the flute, Monday – teach and practice Martial arts, Tuesday – paint and more fluting Wednesday – teach and practice Martial arts, Thursday – rest and do as little as possible, Friday – teach and practice Martial arts, and Saturday – go out with Deki-chan.

Ranma did call Dekiko Deki-chan, but since they were usually the only ones in the room, names became redundant.

At the end of the third month, Ranma had completely accepted that she was both male and female… well more female at the moment but that would change. Ranma was called into Senna's office on her three month anniversary. There, she saw someone she had never seen before wielding a funny staff that looked like it had a heart on the top, and that seemed familiar for some reason.

Before further noticing could happen, Senna said, "Ranma we need to talk. I know why you were here. And I was not entirely honest…"

Author's note

If any of those Flute books actually exist and the names are copy written I apologize but I am trying to make these up


	5. C4 Climax

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company). 

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 4 - Climax

* * *

"Huh?" Ranma replied to what Senna just said. She just had a feeling that her day was just about to get Nerima level stupid. 

Senna decided to take things a little slower. She thought, 'If I know Ranma by now she, no make that he, will not like this.' Senna then said, "Before we get to that though, I would like you to meet Sailor Pluto. She is here to see you."

As was said before, in battle Ranma's mind jumps a few IQ brackets. The same was true in stressful situations. Ranma knew that the Sailor Senshi were Earth based and that Sailor Pluto was rarely seen. To suddenly have her there to speak to her was unexpected to say the least. However, since Ranma barely paid attention to what happened outside martial arts, she only knew that much because she watched some footage to see if they were decent fighters. In her opinion, they looked like they had a case of 'sudden power'. Ranma had seen this a few times; the most notable were Taro and Ryoga. Ryoga had excellent form and style before Cologne taught him. After he got the Breaking Point and the Shi Shi Hokodan his form was neglected and his style was reduced to that of a white belt. Ryoga's fighting style lately was throwing the umbrella or bandanas, and using the breaking point when up close or Shi Shi Hokodan from a distance.

Since Taro had never really not had his cursed form, the difference was less apparent. Like Ryoga, he gave up most style and tactics and relied on his cursed form's power and strength.

Akane and her Dou-chan were a good example too. Akane all but ignored her real skills with Dou-chan, and let it do the fighting for her.

Thus, as he saw the Sailor Senshi fight, he noticed they battled with some limited skill but mostly their tactics consisted of throwing energy blasts around in hopes of hitting something.

Senna continued without interruption, "Dekiko, please stay, there are some things that you need to know as well."

Dekiko had some theories; after all she was aware of some quirky behavior Ranma had exhibited that was unexplainable using conventional means. She remembered her first meeting with Ranma and how she acted, and still did, very boyish. Not tomboyish, just boyish. She was also aware of the springs near where the Amazons settled. She remembered Ranma specifically asking about the Amazons and made it a point to look it up. The one time she asked Ranma about the springs she quickly changed the subject. She also remembered that Senna 'gave' her a supply of beauty soap that Ranma was getting constantly now, and Ranma did not strike her as someone who would care about what other people thought about her appearance.

Sailor Pluto then spoke up, "Ranma, right now Tokyo is under heavy demon attack. It is the type we Sailor Senshi usually handle. However, we are very much out numbered. It is a war of attrition and I fear we will lose if the fighting continues as it has. We, to put it bluntly, need help, and I have come to you as only you can help us turn the tide now. Senna can send you back whenever you are ready, and I know your mother misses her son."

Ranma said angrily to Senna, "You could have sent me home at any time? Then why did you keep me here? Why? And Tokyo is under attack? That is even more reason for me to not be here. What could possess you to keep me here? Why damn it? Tell me! Pluto said herself the Senshi need help! And my mother…" suddenly the anger switched to fear. Ranma looked at the three in the room one at a time wide eyed at the realization. Then after a moment said, "You all knew, didn't you. You knew all along. Why did you allow me to lie to you about it?"

Dekiko then spoke up reassuringly, "You did not lie to us. You never said once you were a girl, and nobody told me. However, between the Amazons, you avoiding the topic of the cursed spring, the beauty soap, and your boyish behavior; it all added up and I guessed this much."

Ranma then turned to the other two in the room and said, "Why did you do this? Was there a reason? Or did you just decide this randomly?"

Pluto then spoke up before Senna could speak, "It was my idea for this, and my reason is a big one. What I am about to tell you now, had you been told before coming here, you would have rejected the idea entirely. First, tell me how do you feel about being a girl now? If you had to keep your curse for the rest of your life if it meant saving lives would you? Would you be willing to give up everything you had in Nerima to help save lives? Would you abandon everyone in Nerima to dishonor if it meant helping many people? Would you accept being disowned and dishonored yourself to save lives?"

Ranma thought for a minute then spoke, "I can see what you mean. Right now I can live with this curse, but before I came here I probably would have answered that I hate it. And yes I would be willing to do anything to help people; it is my duty as a martial artist to protect the weak, so I am honor bound to do whatever is necessary."

Senna then said, "I am sorry for not being as upfront on this. However, you understand we had to be careful. You are as wild as your name implies, and I doubt that if we did anything differently we would be having this conversation."

Ranma then said with just a touch of heat, "Just 'cause I know why you did it does not mean that I like it. You did betray my trust, and we have not even gotten to whatever you are tiptoeing around. So quit dodging and just say it."

Pluto then gave her patented 'I know something that you want to know' smirks and said, "We want you to be a Sailor Senshi, Sailor Siren to be exact.

Ranma froze; this she did not expect. Sure, she thought it would be something that has to do with her girl side, but this was beyond any possibilities she even considered. She had even considered that she would have to die to do what was going to be asked. Oddly her father's words rang in her head "a martial artist's life is fraught with peril."

After a long moment of quiet contemplation Ranma asked, "Why me?" She felt she knew the answer. Something about her life after she got here seemed so familiar, like she lived here before. Like she did all this before. Like she was… Ranma then thought as the last feeling passed through her, 'Ohh crap.'

Pluto saw the expression and hid a smirk. She then said, "It has to be you because you were Sailor Siren before in your past life. You are the rightful heir to the title because you are the reincarnation of Sailor Siren. Only you can be Sailor Siren."

Ranma then got depressed and replied, "You were right. I would have been pissed to even have that implied before coming here. But, after all I have felt since coming here, I would be lying if I said that I do not believe you on some level."

Pluto then visibly smiled. Not a smirk, but a genuine smile. She then spoke, "That is why we did it this way. We needed you to come into this gradually. If we pushed too hard, then you would have rejected outright. Too slow and you might have lost yourself."

Ranma then asked, "How will the curse affect this? Will I still be a guy? Why now? Is there another way?"

Senna stayed quiet, she wanted to reassure Ranma but she held no answers so she let Pluto speak. Dekiko was silent for the same reason.

Pluto then said, "From my understanding, you should still maintain your male state, but you will be temporarily locked as female for half an hour after de-transforming. You will even be able to lock your self as a girl because of that magic, but it will not work in reverse. As for why now… well, originally, because it took me that long to find you and get you here. However, we need your help as soon as we can get it due to the demon attacks. And there is no other way."

Ranma then spoke, "Do I have a choice?"

Pluto answered, "Yes, you can take up the powers and title of Sailor Siren, or you can go home and fight with what you have. However your Hiryu Shoten Ha and Moko Takabashi are useless against these demons. At best, you will slow them down, at worst; you will make them strong enough to kill you. They eat Ki so your special attacks will just make them stronger."

Ranma then muttered sarcastically, "Some choice." She paused, "So, where do we go from here? I will have to take up the title of Sailor Siren."

Pluto continued, "What you have to do is simple enough. I will give you the henshin rod and with that you can transform. All you need to do is to speak the activation phrase. However there are 2 things that you need to know. First, once you transform for the first time, you will be bound for the rest of your life to be Sailor Siren. Second, you will gain immortality and eternal youth. That does not mean you cannot die, it means you will be virtually immune anything that can kill you naturally. Also, when you are in Senshi form, your Moko Takabashi and Hiryu Shoten Ha will be unavailable. The Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken is still useable but be careful because people know you use it and it is also designed to be used on one opponent; your powers are intended for several. Now, here is the henshin rod."

Ranma took the rod and noticed the symbol on it immediately. It looked like a half circle with a smaller full circle inside it with a cross on the bottom. The half was on the bottom, with the full circle touching the bottom of the half circle and the cross touching where the circles met. The rod was a balance of dark blue on the bottom shifting to a dark red on the top. The very top was a large golden star with the symbol in the center.

Ranma held the rod and Pluto said, "Just say the words that come to your mind looking at that rod."

Ranma's eye twitched and he said, "Did you pick those words just to bother me?"

Pluto smirked inwardly and said, "No, and I have similar words. Just think of it as incentive to not be in public when you transform."

Ranma then held up the rod and shouted, "Siren star power! Make-up!" Ranma then felt like her body was being washed over by successive waves of water. After she felt submerged in water she realized she felt naked, to that she inwardly 'acked,' but realized that she was a she and only three other females were in the room. Then the 'water' felt like it was condensing on parts of her body. After it condensed, she could refocus on the room.

Her outfit was a standard Sailor Senshi fuku; the skirt and collar were dark red, the bows were dark blue, the bow on her chest had a little pink heart and she had a golden tiara with a gem in the center that was colored the same as the henshin rod. Her feet had dark red flat slipper boots, similar to what Ranma usually wore only they went half way to the knee. There were no laces or little bows, and in fact they acted more like durable socks. Her hair was tied in a ponytail with a big dark red bow and her hair was now knee length. The elbow length gloves she wore had yellow trim.

Pluto remembered that the gloves' trim at the elbow was yellow as tribute to the populace's origins on Venus. Sailor Siren then noticed a mirror and looked at herself in it. She expected much of what she saw. However, the little pink heart and big red bow would have to go.

After a moment, Pluto asked, "Are you ready to receive your weapon?"

Siren looked at Pluto and replied, "I don't need a weapon."

Pluto said, "Without your weapon, you are only at 20 percent strength. And where is the honor in refusing a weapon that could save lives?"

Siren then looked down and replied, "Fine, I am ready."

Pluto then did something that scared everyone in the room. She put her hand into Siren's chest and removed her heart crystal. Siren only remained conscious long enough to watch Pluto start to pull out something from the crystal. Pluto removed a four and a half foot long Bo from the little crystal and then put the crystal back into Sailor Siren. She spoke to the other two in the room, "To get the weapon, there was no other way."

After about an hour Sailor Siren awoke with a start, she saw Pluto standing behind the other two and growled, "You could've warned me!"

Siren stood and Pluto handed her a Bo staff. She then spoke, "Here is your weapon. It is unlike any other Senshi's weapon. This one can transform. You can also store it like any of our weapons into a magical holding pocket." As Ranma held the Bo, it suddenly vanished.

Senna then said, "I have cleared out the meeting hall for you to practice your powers."

Dekiko was not shocked by most of this. A little surprised, yes, by some things. However her research had prepared her for most of this.

* * *

The meeting hall was empty as Senna had said, and at Pluto's request only Siren and Pluto entered, they walked to the center of the now 'Training Hall'.

Pluto then instructed, "Take out your Bo staff."

Sailor Siren did as asked.

Pluto then said, "Now, do you see the rings in the center?" Siren nodded and Pluto continued, "Grasp the Bo with both hands, one on each side of the rings. Focus on separating the Bo and pull it apart."

Siren then did as asked, and as the Bo split, she noticed there were two blades inside. She continued pulling and noticed that the 'handles' were shrinking in length as she separated the blades, as if the blades were what made the bow as long as it was. After she finished, she had a pair of two-foot katana with six-inch handles.

Pluto then spoke again, "Now, take the katana and put the ends of the handles together. How you line up the blades is important, as it will affect the weapon if you were to spin it. Once it is lined up, focus on it locking together."

Sailor Siren then put the katana together so that the blades would always face the same direction, like a propeller on a plane or helicopter.

Pluto then smirked and asked, "Do you know what the weapon's name is?"

Siren looked confused and stared at the large menacing weapon she now held. She then asked, "Triple Threat?"

Pluto nodded and smirked inwardly, and spoke, "Both blade forms have special attacks that you can perform. Your strongest attack at the moment is 'Siren Returning Wave,' although you only have to say 'Returning Wave' to initiate the attack. Say it full to do a powered up version of the attack." Pluto then took several steps back and continued, "Once you throw the attack you should be able to control the attack."

Sailor Siren held the weapon high above her head and called out, "Returning Wave!" She felt like she lost control of her body when she her hand suddenly started spinning the weapon overhead, then she noticed a pull on her power. It was slight, but she still noticed it. When the weapon looked like a disk of energy she felt herself throw the 'Disk'. As it flew toward the other end of the room, she then tried to control it. After several attempts she succeeded, just in time too, as it had almost reached the other side. As it approached her she realized her mistake as it was flying right at her and looked as if it would cleave her in two.

She instinctively decided to catch it and as soon as she made that decision she lost control of her body and the weapon. It suddenly veered to her right and looked as if it were about to fly past when it suddenly slowed down and she caught it. She looked at Pluto and said, "How did I do that? I felt like I lost control several times but it felt like I could not hurt myself there."

Pluto then said, "Our attacks are designed three fold. First, they are designed to damage evil. The more evil the more effective our attacks. Second, they come with built in instructions and instincts. And third, they are designed such that we are never able to hurt ourselves. Our attacks can hurt each other but unless we put all our strength into an attack we cannot hurt our selves with our own attacks. It is that way because we are a focus, an avatar if you will, for that element that the attack is based on."

Siren looked thoughtful and said, "Well, no mater how you look at it I need training on these powers. I will not allow myself to have a case of 'Sudden Power'."

Pluto looked quizzically at her and she continued, "I call it 'Sudden Power', when somebody suddenly has power and decides to use it without understanding it or working in a good fighting style. No offence intended, but some of the news clips of the other Sailor Senshi seems to prove my point."

Pluto chuckled at this and said, "I agree, but it can not be helped. None of them are serious about training their powers. They are more interested in leading normal lives."

Siren then looked thoughtful and said, "Once I get back I will have to train them I guess. Now, how do I get them to actually train?"

Pluto smirked and replied, "Offer classes in both forms. Some of the inners are almost as bad as the girls here are." Siren blanched at that statement.

* * *

Pluto and Siren spent the next several hours going over Siren's three attacks. At the end of the day a tired Siren left the hall with Pluto and asked Senna, who was waiting for her, "Could you make the hall available to me like this for about eight hours a day over the next two weeks? I want to train hard before I return."

Senna nodded then walked off. Siren looked at Pluto then blushed and asked, "How do I change back?"

Pluto then said, "Just think about what you were wearing before and push."

Siren did that and became Ranma who smiled in relief.

Pluto then spoke, "I need to return to Earth. When you are ready to return, tell Senna and she will send you. Also, because you are Sailor Siren, it means you are the princess of Siren." Pluto then quickly vanished in a flash of light so Ranma not could protest, and so she could laugh her head off in the privacy of the time gates.

Dekiko looked up from her book she was reading and smiled as she heard the plaintive "What!" followed by a short but descriptive string of profanity coming from the hall. She was sure she heard Pluto named at least once in the short rant.

* * *

The next day a focused Sailor Siren was in the 'Training Hall', sure it was known as the "Meeting Hall", however since it was currently focused on her training that is what she called it.

Her special attacks were: Siren Shocking Wave; this was a pulse of energy or a shockwave that shot out in a spherical wave knocking anything it touched back with significant force. It had a controlled variable radius but seemed to be designed to keep her from being surrounded and pinned down. Siren Breaking Wave; this required her weapon to be in second form. She crossed her arms and pointed her katana straight back, with the blades on the outward side. She then charged them with energy as she swung the swords until they were straight out from her with arms extended and edges point backwards. This attack created two waves of energy that overlapped and had an up-down motion. It looked like two crescent moons, one over another and slightly off center, moving forward with an alternating wave type motion, so that when one wave was at the peak of its wave the other was at the bottom. Then there was Returning Wave.

After analyzing her attacks she noticed a deficiency. She had no specific attacks after she launched the returning Wave until it returned. She decided to meditate on this later and returned to her practice. She remembered what she told Dekiko last night, when she asked, that although the magic gave the knowledge of the attacks to her, she needed to have her body know the attacks. She knew how to throw the 'Returning Wave' but her body always did it automatically and, although this was good, she also wanted to be able to work it into an attack style and be able to throw it on her own if needed.

* * *

After a week of practice she was becoming satisfied with her attacks but that glaring weakness was still eating at her. After a few meditating sessions she decided to base it on 'Shocking Wave'. Her idea was taking 'Shocking Wave' and focusing it into her fist then 'punch' it at her target. The result was a magically ranged hard punch. She decided to call it 'Pulsing Wave'.

After another two weeks of training she was happy with her current skills, as she had worked them into a good style. She was ready to return to Earth. She went to find Senna and Dekiko to tell them she was ready.

She decided to leave her stuff here and just go to Earth. For now, she would return to help with the current menace. Then Senna handed her a package and said, "This belonged to you in your last life. At the moment it can only act like a tracking device."

Dekiko then spoke, "In your Senshi form it can be activated by thought, but it will stay invisible unless you think of it in your Senshi form. You cannot use it in normal form. Also, you will have to get Mercury to connect the analyzer to it so you can find weakness in demons without asking her.

Ranma transformed to Siren and put on what looked like a high tech bracer. When she focused on it, a holographic sphere appeared and it had what looked like a pair of rings around it.

Dekiko then continued, "Our information says that the rings will show points on it as to where the Senshi and Youma are. The outer ring is for the Senshi and the inner is for Youma. When a link to the Mercury computer is made the sphere will give information on any one Youma it is directed at. However, this will be far less detailed than the Mercury computer and, from what I can tell, it will just advise you as to which Senshi's attacks would be most effective. Back during the Silver Millennium your powers were designed to specifically hunt down weaker demons so that the others could focus on the strong ones."

Siren frowned at that. She would prefer to be a heavy hitter, not some weakling exterminator. Senna noticed this and spoke, "We have been over this. You are no less important than most of the Senshi. And from what Pluto said, your powers are needed."

Siren nodded then they left to begin the teleportation back to Earth. Due to the magics involved, they needed to use the Lake and teleport her to where she came from on Earth.

* * *

A wet Sailor Siren appeared in a pillar of water in the Tendo's Koi pond. But strangely, the place seemed deserted. She looked, and then heard fighting and sensed evil near by. She raced off and saw the Wrecking Crew fighting off three Youma. She summoned her Bo and charged in. She remembered what Dekiko told her about the disguise field and was glad nobody would recognize her.

She drew back her Bo and nailed the first two Youma in the head. The first was hit in the initial swing, and the second was hit in the back swing. The third actually seemed to run away as the other two covered it. The Youma looked like some weird lobster to her.

She then switched her Bo to the twin katana form and made short work of the Youma. The third had gotten away but the other two were turned to dust. She put her blades back into Bo form and put it back away as she looked at her tracking device and saw a large number of Youma near the Senshi. Just as she was about to leave she heard Akane ask her her name, and she told her, "Call me Sailor Siren."

Nabiki was near by and said, "There is no planet or moon that I know of as Siren. Are you sure you are a Sailor Senshi and not just cheap rip off?"

Before she could reply Soun interrupted, "Nabiki is that anyway to treat someone who just saved our lives?"

Just before she left, she heard Genma speak, "Thank you so much for saving my life," she noticed him doing the 'Crouch of the White Tiger'. He continued, "I have a son your age. In thanks, I offer his hand in marriage."

Siren suddenly thought, 'The Youma can wait, this is important.'

Sailor Siren looked at Genma and decided to give into the speech impulse. "Handing out marriages like an ATM machine is just wrong. In the name of Love and Justice, I, Sailor Siren, am about to kick your ass!"

After a through thrashing of a fat balding martial artist, Nabiki said, "Now that is not really what I would expect from a Sailor Senshi."

Sailor Siren glared at her and said, "I am a soldier of Love and Justice. Arranged marriages without underlying love are wrong and dishonorable, especially given as freely as he just did. It goes against everything we represent and fight for." With that she jumped away, never seeing the shame on the fiancées faces.

Happosai and Cologne looked at each other and smirked in a very Pluto like fashion, and Happosai whispered, "Looks like Ranma is back."

Cologne whispered back, "And it looks like the rules have changed. Poor Shampoo. If I ever find out the truth about Sailor Siren, officially that is, she will not have a claim on him anymore. Son-in… I mean Ranma will just be able to cancel the kiss of marriage at will."

Happosai then thinks, then whispers back, "I hear Juuban has lots of pretty girls"

Cologne then whacks him on the head and says, "Since I have to move there due to this revelation, I will not have you chasing girls in Juuban like you have here."

As the conversation continued, Konatsu listened in. 'Sometimes, it pays to be a ninja,' he thought.

* * *

Nodoka was walking home after seeing what just happened to her husband and why. She was beginning to decide on going ahead with the divorce. She would move Ranma's name to her family's register. There was nobody who felt that he was dead, and she wanted him to come back and not have to worry about the mess that drove him off in the first place. She now agreed fully with Sailor Siren. Genma did use arranged marriages like an ATM machine. 

She also thought that Ranma Kinseino had a nice sound to it.

* * *

The Sailor Senshi were fighting off about three dozen weak Youma. They were the weakest they battled yet from this enemy, but for every one they killed two more would teleport in. 

Mercury was deep in thought as she fought, 'This is why they went quiet. They were preparing a large scale invasion.'

They were all tired, and then Mars yelled at Pluto, "Where is Sailor Siren! You said she would be here today!"

Before Pluto could answer, a dozen Youma were dusted by what looked like an over sized version of Moon's tiara attack. Everyone watched as it suddenly returned to the owner, standing on the top of a streetlight. Pluto recognized her immediately and yelled, "You are late! What kept you?"

Siren jumped down and landed in a crouch, her weapon still in third form held parallel to the ground, and the others could have sworn that as she landed her eyes glowed briefly.

* * *

Author's Note: Another way of describing the planetary symbol of Siren is to picture Venus's symbol and adding a smaller circle inside the big one touching at the bottom, the smaller one has half the diameter of the big circle. Then erase the big circle above the top of the little circle.

The henshin rod itself is the second level rod; I am not enough of a SM fan to know what it is suppose to look like beyond that in the third form. If anyone wants to design a third level rod let me know. I know that Pegasus upgraded the inner's and Siren is not technically an inner but I am still not enough of an SM fan or an Artist.

In reference to the name, it holds a lot of meaning and does have to do with the crossover.

First look at Sailor Moon inner's names

Moon: Tsukino Usagi: Rabbit of the Moon Mercury: Mizuno Ami: Friend of Water Venus: Aino Minako: Child of Love Mars: Hino Rei: Soul of Fire Jupiter: Kino Makoto: Spirit of Life (some actually interpret this as Spirit of trees) (The outer have a different naming system, except Saturn who's name is unique)

I decided that Ranma's name should be significant and open to interpretation; thus Kinseino. The last two characters 'no' usually means 'of' in names. And kinsei can mean balance, which is what I was going for, however as a bonus Kinsei is the Japanese word for the Planet Venus. So we have

Wild horse of Venus - Or more correctly Wild horse of Balance - now that is a misnomer right there, most would think Chaos but that has been done (Galaxia), Ranma represents both male and female, yin and yang. Thus balance. Also Sailor Siren is the Senshi of Art and Balance. As to the wave Motif. Waves are nature's way of creating balance.


	6. SS1 Chaos meets Calm

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

Author's Note:

This side story takes place during Chapters 3 and 4. It deals more with what Ranma did at that time in a less plot more character development stand point. I expanded on a minor supporting character, Benika. Benika will basically have the significance of Yuki or one of Ranma/Akane's school friends. Not plot critical, but a name to a face and useful as a plot device but little else. She will always (at this point) be a background character but I decided to actually give her a face. Also many scenes will describe what Ranma is thinking but not actually be put into the form of (Ranma thought, 'this'). I am doing this to pull it a bit away from the Ranma perspective and focus the camera back on Ranma rather then the story. 

See the AN at the end for more information plus reviewer reply

-

Side Story – Chaos meets Calm

-

Ranma awoke in her room, she liked waking up dry, the waking up female part was still normal but at least she was dry. This was her third full day here; and she was beginning to like living here, even if it was only for a few days. Ranma thought, 'After a few more days here I will find a way home and just say I was off on a training trip. I should only get hit about four times and be lectured two or three times, and after being away this long I will have escaped at least that many.

After a bath Ranma got dressed in her new usual attire, which consisted of loose black pants with an elastic waist, a sleeveless shirt that had built in 'bra' like support. Her usual slippers and the "scrunchy' in her hair. The shirt was red and had 'straps' that made the shirt extra tight that ran from her shoulder, above one breast, crossed the other strap in the middle, then under the other breast, and then looped up and met with the 'other' strap behind her back on her shoulder. It was tight, but it did the job. Also since the straps were elastic they would stretch to fit her male form should she be wearing this and the change would happen.

Ranma ate with her usual gusto, meaning Dekiko wondered if she actually tasted the food. Ranma then went for her usual walk. Dekiko was left to wonder at her new friend/room mate, she was not very feminine, and shouldn't a princess be all prissy and fragile? She wondered at this and started reading up more on what the 'lost one' was like during the Silver Millennium.

-

Ranma was bored to say the least; it was three days since she arrived and she had not had any fights. In fact now that she thought about it even the guards looked like they had nothing to do. Ranma inwardly smirked as she saw a couple of tired looking guards up ahead. She moved silently along the fence toward the two guards, one of them noticed her but hid her reaction since her friend was not paying attention. Ranma recognized the one that saw her as the girl that carried her to see the doctor when she arrived. She did not know her name yet, but she was a tall red head, at least 5 foot 10 and despite looking very strong, she also looked very elegant.

Ranma was directly behind the now yawning guard, when she chirped, "Good morning!" The guard suddenly jumped eight feet, and drew her sword and stared at where Ranma was. She blinked then muttered something about hearing voices. From behind her, "I hope you're hearing voices otherwise you'd be deaf." The guard spun around and saw Ranma on the top of the guard house looking at her.

It looked to Ranma as if the guard was trying to figure out if she should do something or go back to her nap. Apparently Ranma was not perceived as a threat because the guard went back to where she was standing. The other guard shook her head and walked over to the guard house as Ranma jumped down.

The Guard said, "I do not think we were properly introduced, my name is Benika. My parents named me for my rare red hair," she then smirked, looked Ranma over, and continued, "Well you must know what that is like too." She chuckled.

Ranma then smiled and said, "My name is Ranma, and I live up to it."

Benika smiled and spoke, "I noticed, don't mind the grump over there," she pointed to the other guard, "she is a bit on the bored side lately since there have not been many things that we were needed for." The grump in question shot a glare at her for that comment. Benika ignored it and continued, "I think with you around things will pick up a bit, after all you seem like the type to make the world fit you instead of trying to fit into the world. Well I better get back to my post, talk to you later." With that Benika walked back to her post and Ranma hoped back on the fence and walked off.

-

Dekiko was more than a bit frustrated. The problem was that most books simply had not survived the 4000 Siren years since the Moon Kingdom fell. She had requested a few more books be shipped to her, however it would take time as copies had to be made to preserve the originals. She had some books on hand that she had collected randomly, however it was little better than a few chronicles of the court, a diary of some girl who worked in the Royal Residence, and a few random text books, such as dictionaries and the like.

After reading for two hours Dekiko decided to take a break, she poured herself a glass of water and after a she was done she chuckled remembering what one of the books said. It mentioned a prank that the princesses of Neptune and Venus had cooperated in. It involved placing a picture of the Princess of Siren next to the Silver Millennium word for tomboy in a dictionary. The details of the retribution from that prank were hard to find, as there was a gap in the chronicles she had for that time. What details that she could find seemed to indicate that all of their dresses were 'misplaced' just before a party for the Moon Princess's 13th birthday. The Siren princess was the leading suspect but they never got any evidence either way. Queen Serenity apparently publicly denounced the act before laughing her head off, in private, at how well it got pulled off. At least the laughing part was in the diary. 

It seemed that the girl who owned the diary was one of the royal aides and did have some useful information about the Princess's behavior. However it was, like the rest of her books, written in the Moon's language; thus it was slow going since the Moon's language seemed designed with how things sounded rather then any form of logic. She once heard it described that the Moon's language was some twisted hybrid of English rules, forms, and current Japanese symbols and meanings.

Dekiko had actually had a couple of Dictionaries from then, one had Ranma's picture, and this shocked Dekiko enough to set it aside to show Senna, and the other had pictures of young Sailors Venus and Neptune. And those pictures were next to 'tomboy' as well. Dekiko chuckled at this, as Ranma very much did seem the type to respond in kind to any kind of attack.

-

Dekiko then took the dictionary with Ranma's picture in it to show Senna. The resemblance was uncanny, which led them to think that Ranma probably was their lost princess. Senna then spoke, "I know this is strong evidence, however we need more information. She died on Earth 4000 years ago, although Pluto says it is her, I need more evidence then that. Pluto is not one likely to lie about this; however I want to make sure with our own evidence before we do anything. Even still it appears, if Ranma is her then she has not changed at all."

-

When Dekiko got back she had barely sat down when Ranma entered. Dekiko then looked at Ranma and said, "Ran-chan"

Ranma looked at Dekiko and said, "Yes, Deki-chan?"

Dekiko then pulled out a book that was titled Tribes of China, and Magical Springs. Ranma read the cover since it was written in Japanese and suppressed a shudder. Dekiko then said, "I have read up on these Amazons you mentioned, and I found out about a place called Jusenkyo. Do you know of it?"

Ranma was a bad liar and she knew it all too well. The Gambling King came to mind. She decided to stick as close to the truth, without blowing her cover, as possible. She replied, "I have seen the effects of that place. I know of a few people who fell victim to it. I even trained there once but I got lucky. My pop turns into a panda when he gets hit with water, a… friend of mine turns into a c-c-c-cat. I also have seen people who fell victim to springs like duck and also much worse ones. I would prefer to not talk about it."

Dekiko then said and asked, "Alright if you feel that strongly about it, but why did you stutter the word cat?" Although cats were not originally native to Siren, they did get imported from Earth and they generally were all nice domesticated animals.

Ranma hesitated for a minute then told her about the neko-ken. After she was finished explaining Dekiko was thankful that there were no cats in the community. She hid her anger very well; however she did find a picture of a panda which she found some creative uses for; most of them were very bizarre and Ranma a was not going to ask..

-

Dekiko later told Senna about the neko-ken, Senna was unhappy and was relieved that there were no cats around, it turned out to be fortunate that a few people were suddenly found to be allergic to cats in the community. 'Fortunate and very convenient.' Dekiko thought as she left Senna's office.

-

The next day for Ranma seemed to go like the last, wake up dry and female, bath and use the beauty soap, then dress in her usual outfit. Then cooking lessons, eat her lesson, and go for a walk.

It was mid afternoon when Ranma's class started. Some of her students were already physically ready to train. One of her students dropped out but Benika joined; so it really did not feel like a loss. She started demonstrating some of the kata of her new style, or her newly modified style to put it correctly. She was glad that Senna gave her that license to teach; although it was a formality she wanted it in writing since she was raised to believe it was necessary.

The kata was simple enough, for a third belt, so some of her students were having trouble. She then broke the class into three groups. The First group was Benika and two others that she recognized as guards. The next group was another three who were notably less skilled than the first group, but skilled enough to get a hang of her kata. It was the other 5 in the third group that worried her a little; they had no combat training at all. Benika's group was working on a few of her kata as a group and she monitored, the second group went at about a third the pace but was doing ok, just needed her to step in every now and again. Both the first two groups had people with actual hand to hand training and experience. So they all knew how to throw a punch, a kick, or even blocking. However they all moved like a wall in motion… a brick wall…

Ranma began teaching the third group how to do the basics. After an hour of non-stop punching mid air one of the students, wearily, asked, "Sensei?"

Ranma took notice and replied in a very sensei tone, "Yes."

The student then asked, "How long are we supposed to keep this up?"

Ranma looked deep in thought, she remembered when she was young she had asked the same question of a few of her sensei's, she decided to answer with the best reply she was given. She then pointed to a punching bag that had gone untouched all day and spoke, "Punch that bag."

The student looked quizzically at her Sensei, but then walked up to the bag and punched it.

Ranma then asked, "Did you think about punching it when you were standing there?"

The student then looked at Ranma and said, "I do not understand."

Ranma Replied, "Did you tell your arm how to punch the bag."

The student nodded and said, "Of course I did."

Ranma shook her head and said, "Resume your punching practice."

The student was a little annoyed at this and said, "I fail to see the point, I have been doing this an hour now but I still do not understand what you are waiting for before you ask me to stop."

Ranma thought and remembered 'he' made that particular comment too, she knew how to respond to this particular statement. Ranma smiled then walked over to a desk and produced a piece of paper and a pen. She motioned for the student to approach. When the student was there Ranma said, "Sign your name."

The student did then Ranma smiled and said, "Did you think of that?" The student looked at Ranma confused but then shook her head. Ranma still smiling, said, "You know how to write your name without looking, in fact you should be able to talk to me without messing up writing it too badly. The point to this exercise is to get your punching to the point that you can punch and not worry about the actual motion, eventually you will not even have to think about where your fist is going, you will just do it. Plan, decide, and worry about what you are going to do, then act without thought. What we are building is a punching reflex, once we have that done we will working on kicks, then falling."

Another one from group three, this one was obviously a book worm like Dekiko, spoke up, "I don't think we have a choice in falling sensei, after all gravity does that for us." The class chuckled.

Ranma stared at her hard enough that she feared she was about to be made an example of. Then the smile lightened and Ranma said, "Fall like a brick…, or like a feather…, you do have a choice. But falling like a brick will hurt a lot more." This is what 'his' father told her once, and it was very true.

The class continued without further interruption until the 4 hours were up and a tired class dragged itself home. Ranma was pleased, two of the five had punching to the point she was satisfied. Friday they would kick.

-

It was Ranma's sixth class and she would have to do something she worried about, something she dreaded: sparring with her students. Benika and the two other guards were ready. She knew this was coming, but she had no excuse against hitting them while sparing. This was a planet of girls, she was a girl, and she had a job to do. She hated this but she would put her best 'all knowing sensei' look and teach these girls. 

She had sparred with the other two first, using nearly identical tactics. She had dodged, mostly, but in a very set pattern, then she went against Benika. Benika acted like she knew exactly what Ranma was going to do. Ranma decided to throw her a curve ball. She used her top speed to get behind Benika before she could realize it and nail her in the back. Not enough to be hurt or knocked out, but enough to be winded. Benika then spoke up and accused, "You cheated!"

Ranma over emoted a shocked, 'who me', expression and then smiled said in her smug sensei tone, "In order to cheat we need rules first. This is a lesson to everyone in this room that this style focuses on speed and power, but we also use tactics. In fact we, as they say, think outside the box in combat. We think so far out side the box that the box itself becomes a weapon against the opponent. The line between cheating and out of the box thinking is a fine one, but stay within that line and your opponents will always be at the disadvantage. I used the same style, level, and tactics against the others and you assumed I would use that level against you. Why? Because we agreed? Because it would be fair? OR because you felt I would go easy on you?"

Benika had no answer, and then it dawned on her, and as the look of realization crossed her face, Ranma said, "I see that you understand. Our fight started when I started sparing with the others, I set your expectations; I said nothing about how I would spar, however you assumed a level that you felt was at the level of the other matches. That's what I mean by using the box as a weapon. If we were equals in power, speed and skill; from that handicap you gave yourself, you would have defeated yourself." This she knew all too well, she saw it before and always relied on this style of combat. Let your enemy defeat themselves.

One of the younger students piped up and said, "But it is still unfair."

Ranma replied, "Yes it is, there's no denying that fact, but remember that when you are at this level you do not need to worry about the box being used against you. Thus you are prepared for anything."

-

It had been a month since Ranma arrived, well a couple of days short of a month, and Dekiko was reminding Ranma about feminine hygiene, Siren style. Apparently their hygiene products were a tad more effective then the Earth variety. When Ranma first arrived everything happened so fast that much of this was really over looked. However she was now settled in, although she was still looking for a way to get home, she could take the time to learn what she needed to know.

Her students came to the conclusion that sparring with her during this time was not smart. During this time her fighting became aggressive and playful. As part of tradition, now at the end of class she would have her entire class try and 'tag' her. Unless someone succeeded they all had to run three laps around the 'Hall', the 100 yard long 'Hall'. She added a twist, if someone collapsed then someone had to carry them. Needless to say nobody managed to 'tag' her, yet.

-

A week and a half had passed since Ranma's feminine hygiene lessons, when she noticed something that scared her a little, she was low on soap. Dekiko offered to go and get some soap but implied it would not be the same kind she had been using. Of course Ranma kept calm, she went to Senna and managed to get her to have regular shipments brought in. What Senna did not tell Ranma was she had an emergency supply just incase.

When Ranma told Dekiko about the shipments, Dekiko looked at her like she had suddenly grown an extra head. Then Dekiko said, "I know you do not care about what other people think, so why are you so obsessed?"

Ranma pondered and desperately thought trying to come up with an answer. She decided to respond, "Just 'cause I don't care now doesn't mean I won't care later. Besides I have a hard enough head, I don't need hard skin to make things worse." As Ranma said that last part her face curled up in a smile.

Dekiko was not convinced but would let is slide, however she laughed at the last part.

-

Ranma had been on Siren for seven weeks now. She had just seen Ryoga fade away as he jumped, she felt an odd pull on the area's energy and hoped it was just a sign of Ryoga getting back to the Earth. Ranma had realized for certain now that there was some form of teleportation involved in Ryoga's family curse.

She made her way to the 'Hall' and started working on her forms and kata. She had previously begun working in some of the styles that Senna had given her. They were nowhere near a complete school but were a few forms that many of the guards were trained in. However there were a few special techniques that she was going to work on. They included attacks but mostly they were fairly normal advanced forms. There was only one special attack in the bunch, it dated back to the Moon Kingdom. 

The attack was a method for performing a twin magical attack. However it required the user to understand the attack they were doing and then using Ki to make a "shadow" attack. The Shadow attack required Ki and magic. Since Ranma did not know any "Magic" attacks she ignored this for now. She hated magic for all it did to her, and understanding and learning a magic attack was low on her priorities list.

-

The next day Dekiko noticed that Ranma was depressed, but today was a special day. Tonight the community was going to have a party, and a new import from the city just came in. It was a recent favorite in Earth's Japan: Karaoke!

She purchased a pair of real cute dresses and some accessories for the occasion. Now was the hard part. Getting Ranma into one of the dresses. She had tried several times before but now she had a plan, this time she had help, this time Ranma would have no choice. She giggled maniacally to herself.

Ranma was just entering the bath when she shuddered and thought, 'Someone is planning on getting me into a dress, I can feel it. Dekiko is the only one around here that has the guts to try that, but how will she do it?'

Ranma was so lost in thought that she never noticed Dekiko stealing all her cloths and leaving just a dress and panties behind. Dekiko then emptied Ranma's room of all her clothes, and having done the same with her own earlier, she took them to Senna's office. Senna kept all the clothes in two bags behind her desk; Senna enjoyed a good prank as much as the next person. She also stationed Benika outside the apartment just incase Ranma would rather forego modesty entirely. She doubted that would happen, but Ranma was pretty random.

Dekiko was just leaving Senna's office and Senna was about to say something when a battle cry of, "Deki-chan! When I get my hands on you, you'll be wearing this dress upside down!"

Senna could not help but to break down laughing as she tried to picture the threat being carried out.

-

After spending almost two hours 'convincing' Ranma to go along with it, Ranma caved. After Dekiko and Benika had finished with the tomboy, Ranma looked in the mirror. She was wearing a Black knee length 'sun dress', a shortened version of Ranma's old Chinese shirt, and a Big Bright Red Bow in her hair on the top of her head on her left side. The Shirt was her condition for the Bow. She outright refused socks, and went for her usual black slippers. They spent an hour debating high heals but Ranma threatened going barefoot if they tried hiding them. The shirt looked more like a vest covering the top of her dress. When they showed her the jewelry she just glared at them until they put it back.

After they got to the party they mingled and Dekiko and Benika actually managed to drag Ranma up and sing. It became a trio very quickly.

The other two girls teased Ranma badly about how good her voice was. She enjoyed her self a little but she would still have her revenge. Inwardly she was laughing, outwardly she was grinning evilly.

The other two noticed the grin, they inwardly gulped.

-

The next day Senna was doing her rounds when she saw such a comical sight she almost fell over laughing. Dekiko was walking from the meeting hall wearing the dress Ranma wore last night, over her other clothing. The dress was upside down. 

When Senna asked, between laughs, how Ranma pulled it off, Dekiko replied, "I don't know; one moment she is holding the dress, and the next it is on me, upside down. The worst of it is the straps she added to keep it in place. I can not take it off without taking off my skirt and shirt… And she never even touched me! The only thing I know is while she was rolling around laughing she mentioned the name 'Happosai reverse clothing technique!'" 

-

It had been four days since Pluto left, and Ranma was in the 'Training Hall'. At the moment Ranma was Sailor Siren. Siren had a lot of target dummies setup. Today she was practicing control and focus. She had tried the last three days without much success to create a kata for her powers. The problem was that most of the movements, when casting an attack, were far too automated; also they felt like she was trying to dazzle her enemy with her beauty with those danged poses. She hadn't noticed the first time, probably because of the shock or perhaps the lack of a Bo; but after that every time she transformed into Siren she would assume the, as she thought of it, 'Look at me I am pretty standing like a bull's-eye' position. There was nothing she could seem to do to change it or affect it. 

The Position was feet at 5 and 7 o' clock, her back arched and the Bo was held by her left hand and laid across he shoulders. Her right hand was doing some sort of salute only her fingers were in the victory sign.

She may have liked loose stances but that had no function as far as she could tell. The only thing that pose would do is cause her enemy to laugh themselves to death. She was not a happy magical girl. What bothered her the most she thought as she kept using her various attacks against the targets she setup, was not being a girl, nor was it being Sailor Siren. She was bothered by the lack of choice. Sure she was told she could just walk away and chose her own path, however now that she thought about it; she was walking down a predefined path, possibly one Pluto herself could not see. That bothered her a lot.

Pluto had told her that she only found out that Ranma was Sailor Siren about two weeks before coming here. Siren also remembered from her past life, or what Swiss Cheesed parts she could remember, that Pluto could not change the past. So Pluto could not have arranged for Jusenkyo, nor could she have arranged for the other fiancées to have showed up since each had set out to find Ranma a week prior to Pluto knowing.

Siren continued her practice and was annoyed whenever she had to wait for Returning Wave to return. She continued to ponder her situation. She knew that Pluto had arranged for the timing with Senna to get her here, however aside from that Jusenkyo was just a coincidence. She did not believe in coincidences. There was definitely someone or some Kami who planned this. There was no other way that she could see.

She cleared her mind and continued her practice and after an hour she stopped to meditate. She needed a new attack, something ranged but not reliant on her weapon. Contrary to what many people thought about Ranma, 'he' did not hate weapons, nor did he not respect the users of such weapons. Ranma felt that when you yield a weapon, any weapon, you accept the possibility that killing may happen. The better the weapon, the more likely. Also Ranma felt that if you rely on a weapon, or any one thing for that matter, if that one thing was taken away you would be left defenseless. Ranma hated being defenseless.

After a couple hours of meditation she studied the Technique for duplicating attacks, she still did not understand her attack magic enough for her to think the technique would work. She decided to experiment later with it once she had a good understanding of how her powers worked.

-

The next day Sailor Siren was staring at her self in the mirror, she was pouting cutely without realizing it. She was staring at her outfit; this was becoming a daily ritual. She was sure she remembered that she should be able to transform into something else, but even for the sake of her manhood she could not think of how.

Dekiko glanced at her friend and was considering taking off her shirt and shoving it in her mouth to help stop her from laughing. To her credit she only laughed after the miffed girl left the room, but she laughed at the way Ranma kept tugging on that skirt. She went back to reading, after regaining her composure, after her friend did ask her to look into other transformed states. However there was only one state she found and as much as she was tempted to give it to her she also remembered the last prank. People were still laughing about the dress incident.

-

Sailor Siren was in a large open field later that day. Since she was going to experiment she felt it best that she not be indoors. She started firing off her 'shocking wave' repeatedly and noticed something. She then jumped and rapid fired off the waves about one a second. She was hovering about half a foot off of the ground, and surrounded by a blue sphere. This was ridiculously draining, but it told her two things; one was her shocking wave actually bent reality a little, thus what was inside the wave was unaffected by the outside, and the other was that she had to fire one off about every second. 

Shocking wave also had three levels of power to it. Level one was fairly weak, she doubted that she could knock around Youma with it but she could deflect attacks. For the level one attack she just had to 'push' it out, there were no words for it. Level two was when she just shouted, "Shocking Wave!" It was strong enough that most Youma back during the Moon Kingdom days would have been knocked silly, at least according to Deki-chan. The third level would knock even second level powered Sailor Senshi away. However she would have to shout, "Siren Shocking Wave!" It would also be quite draining.

She was thinking about how she could create a new attack out of Shocking Wave, she decided that if she could learn to focus it then perhaps she could do something else. After about five straight hours of trial and explosive and terrain damaging error she finally got control to her liking for the first step. She could focus the shocking wave to create a point shield defense system. It was by no means perfect, but it would do enough for what she needed. It would not work when calling levels two or three though.

She had finally started focusing it into her fist when she noticed that she could just throw it forward. Unlike her Moko Takabashi, it was not truly an attack that could be used at any moment. She decided to try it a few times and finally was happy with it. She named it 'Pulsing Wave' she did have a naming scheme going so she decided to follow it. Then just after she called the name and fired it off for what must have been the hundredth time she felt her entire power base to waver and flicker. It was too intense for her to handle and she blacked out.

-

Siren awoke in the clinic; apparently someone found her and brought her in. She was getting up when the doctor noticed she was awake. The doctor smiled and said, "That was fast, I thought you would be out a full day but from what we can tell you were only out about ten hours. Senna wanted you to go see her when you woke up." Siren nodded and left.

Senna was mostly concerned about what happened but it had suddenly dawned on to Ranma that she her power instructions now told her how to do a 'Pulsing wave'. After she convinced Senna that she was alright she had left to return to the field. The first thing she did was to shout, "Pulsing wave!" Then she automatically did the pulsing wave. From what she could determine any attack she used continuously that was not in her standard arsenal was added to the standard arsenal after a time.

Ranma left for a meal after all she hadn't eaten in almost a day. And she was very hungry.

-

Senna and Dekiko were in Senna's office talking. It was late afternoon and since it was Friday Ranma would be teaching right now. Even with her doing her Senshi training she was also teaching. Since she was leaving soon she had asked Senna to get Benika to take her place as sensei. 

Senna was also reading Dekiko's latest report on Ranma in the Silver Millennium, back then she was Demon Hunter. She was usually called in when there was an infestation that needed cleaning that was stronger than the next most powerful warriors could handle.

Senna looked up from what she was reading and spoke, "She really has not changed much has she?"

Dekiko smiled and replied, "Not as far as I can find. She was a full out tomboy then and now…" She giggled at that last part.

Senna joined her in laughter.

Senna then asked, "It is well known that she died on Earth just before the attack on the Moon while visiting her boyfriend but what was he like?"

Dekiko replied, "He was very much an Earth noble: arrogant, prideful, boastful, and handsome. But he was very taken with her back then. He had an odd habit of spouting poetry almost constantly, and kept referring to her as his 'Pony-Tailed Goddess'. However he was very observant and could always tell it was her. He could sense magic and see through disguise magic. Once she tested him by disguising as a boy." They both laughed at that. She continued, "However, he identified her immediately."

Senna then pulled out the papers Pluto gave her almost three and a half months ago. She said, "That boy reminds me of someone… Ahh here it is, he reminds me of Tatewaki Kuno." She then handed the papers to Dekiko.

Dekiko then looked at the papers and shook her head. She then said, "Other then the poetry their and a few superficial personality traits they were not much alike." She handed the papers back.

Senna then asked, "So what was his name?"

Dekiko then replied, "Akaji"

Senna then thought a moment and said, "Other then the poetry and nickname the same could be said about Akane. Do you think Akane is his reincarnation?"

Dekiko thought then said, "It is possible but the Akaji I read of did not have that anger problem of her's." She then handed Senna some unfinished notes about Akaji

After getting the notes back, Dekiko left. Senna realized from the notes Pluto left her that Ranma's, she paused in thought, friend from the Silver Millennium was probably not reincarnate. But she was not about to rule out the possibility.

-

End Side Story

Author's note

Despite how it came off in chapters 3 and 4 Ranma is not really happy here, but remember he does not have to fight people randomly or for stupid reasons. Also keep in mind the environment. This is a place with almost no guys, or ties to his past. Here Ranma can just relax and be a girl without worrying about little things like: katana, pandas, perverts, or even mallet happy tomboys. Ranma may not be truly happy here but Ranma does like it here better then Nerima.

Ranma may seem more intelligent when teaching then he would be in the manga, but remember he has had the time he needs to grow, also with Genma's training he probably stayed at several dojos and would have acquired a few random teaching techniques. Plus although there is no scene dedicated to it Ranma is being taught by Dekiko how to teach.

This Side story is not meant to be necessary to the rest of the story, but it will help some understand the changes to Ranma and why things that later happen do not bother him. Also keep in mind that there is a lot that will happen, there is room for more character development. One reviewer said that Ranma would not let things on Siren continue as they were. That reviewer overlooked two big things

1. Siren is the way it is with guys for survival, if Ranma forced Japanese, American or any other Earth based culture on the people of Siren then he would effectively condemn the moon to a slow death by reducing the birth rate.

2. Ranma will not be the recognized ruler of Siren for some time. It should be obvious that Ranma is not the ruler now; to most she is just some earth girl that showed up one day. Only Senna and Dekiko actually know the truth. Just a hint at that, it will be a future story arch. Probable set a few Years after of this one.

Some people also asked about 'Shocking Wave' and 'Pulsing Wave'

'Shocking Wave' is best thought of as a growing perfect sphere of energy from the center of her torso that grows quickly; think of it like a shockwave of a bomb only with pure knock back potential, or the shockwave from a super nova.

'Pulsing Wave' is an attack that takes the power of the shocking wave and focuses it into her fist then throws the energy by punching it at them. When it is flying at the target it looks like a parabolic lens. This does not replace the previous technique just adds a new one.

The next point I want to address is someone said that Ranma would have developed more then one attack. Perhaps that is true, but this is still new to Ranma. He may be good at controlling Ki but Ki and magic are very different energies. If they weren't then why didn't the enemies in sailor moon just capture the Senshi specifically and intentionally to drain their energy? Especially since the energy would be a constant feed. Ranma has to work at becoming better, but even in the manga he is limited to four true special attacks: Chestnut fist, Moko Takabashi, Rising Dragon, and Umisenken. He does spend a lot of time improvising, combining and refining; but he is more of think in the moment person, I also am not making him some fighting Kami, so forget that as a possibility. He is good but he technically has nearly the lowest power potential of the group. That being said only Uranus and Jupiter have any actual combat training and even Venus has seen more combat then the rest.

I have also hinted at some things here and added a bit of a spoiler, the spoiler is based on a review by someone who obviously never heard of foreshadowing or hinting at a later plot point so I decided to give some bigger hints. However remember Ranma's combat style, he is a Mimic. No he will not be duplicating other's attacks directly; however there is a point to me pointing that out.

Ohh and about Akaji, I refuse to tell anything until it comes up, if it comes up. I will say that he is NOT Kuno, I added that part for laughs. Akaji probably will not turn up however I could just be lying and be planning something. 


	7. C5 Combat

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

-

Chapter 5 – Combat

-

Sailor Siren stood up, looked directly at Pluto, and said, "Talk later. Right now, we've got Youma to destroy."

Siren then looked at the attacking Youma. She switched her weapon into twin katana mode and charged into the Youma, her blades swinging in arcs of death. The other Senshi resumed their attacks. Elemental energy erupted from them and blasted into the Youma. Mars took one out at the same time Siren took out two, and then Jupiter nailed one as another fell to Siren. The battle progressed, and it became obvious to the Senshi that Siren outclassed them. But then a new Youma showed up, and this one looked stronger than the weaklings that the Senshi were fighting. This Youma was what the Mercury computer referred to as a Lieutenant class.

It was big, almost 6 feet tall and looked like a rhino with a heavily armored turtle shell. It stood on its hind legs and was deceptively fast and very strong. The first thing it did was to head straight for Siren.

Siren saw it coming and dodged like a grasshopper, but she was unable to call more than her shocking waves and nail a few nearby weaker Youma. However, despite the other Senshi's attempts to help, she was not in a winning position. Siren dodged a clumsy swing, and a weak Youma managed to nail her in the middle of her back. She got knocked forward into the path of the stronger Youma.

The strong Youma hit her in the chest, and Siren went flying backwards into a wall. The wall shuddered as Siren crashed into it, and immediately collapsed on her.

Upon seeing their new friend take that hit, the Senshi all aimed their attacks at it. Mars struck first, she fired off her 'Mars Fire Soul'. It dodged the attacks the other Senshi were throwing at it. Jupiter was charging up her second level attack like Pluto told them. She finally had the power and saw an opening and then fired off her 'Supreme thunder dragon'. That was all it took to stun it long enough for Moon to finish it off with a 'Moon Spiral Heart Attack'.

After the remaining Youma were defeated or had escaped, the Senshi carried the unconscious Siren to the temple. Unfortunately, the Senshi mused, while it would have been better if they had all been destroyed, due to the sheer numbers and the fact that the enemy had seemed to know when to quit, that was not an option. As usual they opted to run to the shrine since teleporting caused too much of a drain, and the last few times they teleported they only succeeded in alerting the enemy to their presence. Only Pluto could teleport undetected by the enemy. They had barely reached the shrine and set Siren down when she began to stir.

Siren awoke and noticed that she was in a room with other Senshi. She rubbed her head and noticed the tiara, and she thought, 'Ok, I'm still in Senshi form, so they haven't transformed me back to non-Senshi form.' She noticed everyone looking at her with concern. She then asked, "Where am I?"

Mars answered before anyone else, "You are at a shrine we use for out meetings. Are you ok? You were out for an hour." 

Siren then replied, "I'm fine. It just got a lucky hit in. I guess I have been lax the last few months. Otherwise, it wouldn't have won." Siren then reverted to Ranma-chan, and said, "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves. I'm Ranma."

The Senshi hesitated momentarily and starting with Usagi they all changed back from Senshi form and introduced themselves.

As the Senshi introduced themselves, Ranma realized that he had seen Ami before. He remembered it being during a fight a few days prior to his leaving for Siren. He was fighting Mousse at the time, and winning as usual. Just as he was walking away, he overheard a couple of girls talking. One of the girls said her name was Ami and that she was looking for a 'Ranma Saotome'. He easily guessed what that meant, especially when the girl did not appear to be a fighter. But she did have a very strong and cold oriented aura.

He had quickly switched to his cursed form and bee-lined for the Tendo dojo, hoping the girl would never look there. She apparently came by later while he was out doing some shopping for Kasumi. It went on like that for a few days, and she had never actually seen him. Kasumi had told him that Ami was indeed on his constantly growing list of fiancées.

Ami was also lost in thought. She was remembering how, a month ago, she was in Nerima looking for a 'Ranma Saotome' and several times she had seen this girl in front of her but she was always running off somewhere. And now she was trying to figure out why the girl has the same name as Ranma. She remembered that one of the contributing factors over her parent's breakup was her father had apparently made a pact to 'Join the schools' with an old friend of his. Her father was an artist both of painting and fighting, but he gave up martial arts shortly after she was born. However, the honor pledge did eat at him.

Minako was planning a make over for the tomboy in front of her. 'After all,' she mused, 'Ranma won't be able to catch any cute boys looking like such a tomboy.'

Makoto and Haruka were sizing up Ranma. They knew from watching her fight that she was very well trained. They also knew that, despite her small form, was hidden a lot of strength. The way she moved showed that she was a master class fighter; they remembered Pluto saying that Ranma was raised as a fighter in this life, but that appeared to be an understatement.

Michiru was watching Ranma's attitude and behavior and her thoughts mirrored one of Dekiko's initial impressions. Ranma was not acting like a tomboy, like Haruka. She was outright acting like a boy, but that made no sense. The way she moved, and her body was very feminine, but her speech and attitude was outright like a boy's. Even Haruka was not that boyish. Perhaps the inners would be fooled, but she was never truly fooled by Haruka's behavior.

Rei was confused. Her training let her see auras, and Ranma's was equally male and female, although it was more female at the moment. However, the male elements were still there, and appeared to belong as much as the female elements did. It appeared so much so that the two parts of her aura only differed by the male and female shifts.

Hotaru had no specific thoughts on Ranma, but was just relieved that she had woken up. However, she did notice something off in Ranma when she was healing her. She had helped Ranma heal after the battle before she awoke. Her powers let her feel for injuries anywhere in the body, but she could also tell male from female by her powers alone. She did not get any such feeling from Ranma though. She decided that because Ranma was the Senshi of Balance and Art, the normal feed back that she would get might be affected.

Pluto was sitting off to one side smirking her all knowing smirk.

Mamoru, who was absent at the battle, noticed Pluto using her 'I know something and I enjoy watching others jump through hoops' smirk, and decided to sit quietly and do nothing. He had learned from experience that getting the attention of girls at the wrong time was a very bad thing… usually for his wallet.

Usagi was relieved and happy that Ranma seemed friendly, but by the way Setsuna was smirking, she had suspicions that something was about to happen to change things.

After a few minutes of silence Ranma looked at Makoto and Haruka and said, "You two look like you had some formal martial arts training." The two in question just nodded with a puzzled look on their faces. Ranma continued, "Haruka, you look like you started, but never really got very far, and you were probably trained by a relatively young sensei, who was female. You also seem to still practice or at least work out fairly often. Makoto, you look like you got at least third level belt. And your trainer was also young, but yours was a guy." Both looked at Ranma like she had two heads. "Minako, you look like you have never had any formal training but you obviously were the first Senshi to have awakened." 

At this point Rei said, "How can you tell all of that?" She was beginning to think that Pluto was selling information on them.

Ranma then replied, "I could tell when we were fighting the Youma. I analyzed your fighting styles. Minako seemed to rely as heavily on her special attacks as the rest of you do, but she is more skilled at it. Makoto and Haruka used flawed fighting styles, which meant that they either quit early or are still training but don't dedicate much time to it, and their techniques showed that they were trained by young, inexperienced sensei. However, Makoto's styles were all designed for guys, thus she has a hard time with balance."

Haruka looked miffed and said, "What do you know about martial arts?" She was a little put off that such a little and weak looking girl could be better at martial arts than she was. But she had her suspicions as to the answer she was about to get. She did see Siren fight, but it irked her to be analyzed so thoroughly by someone younger than herself.

It was obvious to Setsuna that Haruka forgot the description she gave them last month, especially the part about her being stronger when she had access to her non-Senshi attacks. Not to mention the fight she just witnessed.

Setsuna answered this for Ranma, "She was raised from the moment she could walk to be a warrior, to the exclusion of all else. Her training allows her to adapt and evolve as a fighter extremely fast. In truth, all being a Sailor Senshi really changes for her life is the fact that she has magical attacks now, and the uniform."

Ranma looked irritated and said, "Those skirts are indecent."

Most of the girls chuckled because they all agreed, but nothing could be done.

At this time the Moon cats walk in and the Senshi heard a scream of, "C-C-C-C-CATS!" When they turned their heads Ranma was gone. They heard Ranma above them and when they looked up they noticed Ranma was now hanging on the ceiling.

Setsuna then muttered, "I had hoped that the Senshi healing magic would have fixed this problem. Luna, Artemis could you two hide for a minute?"

The cats look at the terrified girl on the ceiling and then hid under the table. After a little coaxing they got Ranma down. Pluto then said, "Ranma, can you close your eyes for a minute?" When Ranma complied she looked at Luna who was coming out of hiding and continued, "When Ranma was six her father inadvertently instilled extreme ailurophobia into Ranma. Can you use a mind meld and help remove it?"

Luna looked at the despondent, incoherent, and frightened girl, and then agreed.

She performed the meld. But to do it right, she had to rewind back through her life. At first, it seemed normal enough considering the situation. Then, after she had quickly come to before she had gone to Siren, Luna noticed something odd. Ranma was male. This was unexpected. She quickly skimmed backwards through Ranma's life until she reached the event that caused the fear. This memory was very deeply burned in Ranma's memories, and would be very hard to miss.

Unfortunately she completely missed Jusenkyo, normally Luna is more careful than that, but overlooking a week or two would not in all fairness matter to a normal person. Ranma was not a normal person, and Luna did not have time to hunt down important parts of Ranma's memories. After she watched Ranma being thrown into the pit several times she rewound to the beginning and pulled Ranma into the memory with her.

Ranma 'awoke' and saw Luna, but did not feel fear. She said, "Are you doing this?" No sooner did Ranma say that then he realized he was male again.

Luna nodded and said, "Yes, I did do this. I am one of two Moon Cat Advisors for the Senshi. Fear of us would be quite a problem, so we are talking like this to try and get you at least used to us.

Ranma blinked, and shortly said in his usual intellectual way, "Ahh."

Luna then asked, what promised to be the first of a long series of questions, "Why are you a guy now? Are you not a girl?"

In the dream world, a day can be a minute outside, or the reverse can be true. It was a good thing for Luna. After what seemed like two straight days of therapy, Luna had finally convinced Ranma not to fear moon cats. Earth cats would still send him into fear, but there would never be a neko-ken reaction from Ranma again.

Twenty minutes later real time, after she finished the meld, she looked at Setsuna with a glare that said, 'Next time, you tell me everything.'

However, before she could say anything, Setsuna said, "It is her story to tell, not ours."

When Ranma regained focus and saw the Moon Cats, she did not freak but instead felt trust for the two of them.

After Ranma recovered, Setsuna looked at her and said, "As you probably know, you need to wait 30 minutes after changing back before you can trigger your Jusenkyo gift. The 30 minute wait is now up, so you can change back now." She then handed Ranma a glass of hot water she got just before Ranma awoke. As she splashed herself, the Senshi watched in awe as the cute redheaded girl changed into a very handsome black haired boy.

Under most circumstances he would not make his curse so well known to people who were unknown to him. But these girls seemed nice enough, not to mention with his luck they would find out anyway.

Suddenly Minako shouted, "Kami-sama really exists!"

Everyone looked at Minako then at Ranma. Ami then blushed and spoke, "You are really a guy, right? I mean, you only change into a girl." 

Ranma's eye twitched, and he said, "Yes, and you'd think I'd be use' to that question by now." Then he continued on looking careful on at the suddenly flustered girls. His thoughts went back to Nerima and Siren; he began mouthing a count down to the inevitable.

Minako spoke up, "Finally, another one like the Starlights."

Then Makoto had a sudden look of realization and grinned.

Ami watched as Ranma seemed to be mouthing a count down. 'What could he be counting down to?' she wondered.

Then when Ranma finished the count down Minako was clinging on to him holding his arm.

Ami then spoke up, "By your reaction, I have to say that you are actually used to girls doing that to you. Since you did nothing to provoke this reaction, can you explain how you seemed to have prior knowledge that it would happen?"

It took a moment for her question to actually make itself clear and he responded, "Well, since my pops had a habit of arranging marriages for anything, including a bowl of rice, I kinda am used to girls jumping me like this. However, most of the girls who did were never interested in my thoughts and feelings. Sadly, the easiest girls to convince to leave were the nice quiet ones that would actually listen to my feelings."

Suddenly Minako was sitting where she was earlier only they were looking down and blushing.

Ranma continued, "Besides, Ami-chan, you're a fiancée yourself. Or do I remember wrong?"

Ami's response was to blush, earning glares from Minako and Makoto.

Haruka decided to put this 'boy' in his place. From the sounds of it, he was a playboy. But what really annoyed her was it sounded like her fighting skills were insulted earlier. She looked at Ranma and said, "I challenge you to a sparring match, do you accept or are you not man enough to fight me?"

Ranma's time on Siren got him over the 'I don't hit girls' garbage that was pounded into him and it got refined into 'I don't hit girls outside a sparring match, or a life or death fight'. Also, after being male for the first time in nearly three and a half months, and having his manliness questioned crossed the last line. He stood up and said, "Sure, but transform first. I want a decent opponent."

Haruka snarled and transformed. And they stepped outside, all but two followed.

Setsuna smirked and watched everyone go outside; Luna saw this and shook her head then said, "She is in way over her head. If Ranma transformed she might stand a chance, but in terms of skill Ranma is stronger than Haruka. Ranma's Sailor form is far more geared toward multiple enemies than one on one fighting. In Senshi form, he doesn't have the full range of his martial arts abilities. Because Senshi magic nullifies too much of any emotion and non-magical temperature variation, Haruka should have an advantage."

Setsuna continued smirking and then replied, "Done some snooping while you were in there have you?" Luna glared at Setsuna for that comment before Setsuna continued, "Well, I doubt it would be that simple. Ranma has very high innate healing and more combat training. Plus, he is known for improvising new attacks as needed. The only attacks that have ever truly worked against him were surprise attacks. But Haruka only has two magic attacks, and I doubt that she will get enough time to use them."

They both then left to join the others.

-

Ranma and Sailor Uranus were facing each other. Uranus had her space sword out, and was in some kind of aggressive stance. Ranma was in one of his loose stances that read 'bull's eye', but to Ranma every attack he could plan on coming at him was a trap, meaning that he looked like he was not in a stance.

As one the two combatants moved. Uranus aimed her sword and shouted 'Space Sword Blaster!' As the attack approached Ranma, he was suddenly out of the way and approaching her as the attack flew wide.

Ranma closed the distance, planning on making that sword a liability. Uranus put the sword into her subspace pocket and prepared to meet this challenger.

Ranma and Uranus started off trading blows in standard combat but Ranma found out quickly that although Uranus was less skilled than he was, her Senshi healing kept her going against his blows. Worse yet, she was faster than he was. She had the strength of his male form and the speed of his girl form. And it was beginning to become clear that strength was not going to help win this fight.

Ranma tried the Amaguriken, but despite being male, the strength behind it was not enough, The Senshi outfit, oddly, did give a lot of protection against physical blows; however the Senshi powers did more than just give magical attacks and provide defense. The Senshi powers enhance physique. And since Haruka was very strong naturally, that flowed over into her Sailor Senshi form. 

Ranma noticed a small pond and lead the fight toward it. When they were close Ranma pulled off a simple throw. The throw was successful, and when Uranus landed she created a big enough splash that Ranma shifted forms.

Ranma then started insulting Uranus, and of course Uranus started getting sloppy. Ranma made several insults like, "You call that a sword", "Nice punch but the target is in the other direction", and her favorite, "Do you even know how to fight, tomboy?" 

Ranma noticed that Uranus was not producing enough heat to be useful but that was when Uranus sent a space sword blaster her way. She noticed how much energy was there and it did heat the air around it. 'Perfect,' she thought. She started insulting the space sword blaster as an attack and it caused Uranus to get really mad and start chasing her around firing off the attack almost constantly.

The Senshi got worried that this was degrading too far, but before Michiru could step in and calm her love, Rei said, "What is Ranma doing?"

Setsuna then spoke up, "Ranma is about to unleash her finishing move. Uranus has lost." All the Senshi looked at Setsuna but before any of them could say anything they heard Ranma as she yelled, "Hiryu Shoten Ha!"

They all looked at the windstorm that blew up, blasting away Uranus. Uranus landed with a loud thud. She was badly winded but would not give up. She put her Space sword back in the storage space and charged and fired off a 'World Shaking!' Ranma dodged then summoned her confidence. She wanted to finish this in one more shot, or Uranus would win. She fired her 'Moko Takabashi!'

Uranus was in shock. Ranma was in civilian form. She shouldn't have any energy attacks. She was so surprised that she did not even think to dodge. The attack hit and the battle was over as Uranus needed help getting back up. As they were walking back to the shrine Ranma collapsed from exhaustion and was carried back in by Makoto and Minako.

She heard Haruka complain after she changed back, "That was some cheap move."

Ranma smiled as a reply

-

After they returned to the shrine and Haruka nursed her injuries, she looked at Ranma and narrowed her eyes at her, then spoke "I still say that was cheap."

An equally battle worn redhead smiled and said, "Tell that to the next Youma we will fight. You fight pretty well. We'll have to do that more often."

Haruka grunted and smirked slightly, then nodded.

Ami looked confused and said, "How did you do that last attack?"

Rei spoke up for Ranma and said, "Ranma must be a Grandmaster class Martial artist. I can channel my Ki but I can't summon that much life force to use it as a weapon. What I am curious about is how you learned it?"

Ranma smiled and replied, "Someone used a Ki attack against me so I copied it, then I later modified it for my own styles."

Makoto looked suspiciously and said, "You had seen an attack you never dreamed was possible used against you and you copied it, just like that?"

Ranma nodded and replied, "It took me a week to get it suited for me, but yes I did learn the basics from just seeing it. Actually, the person who used it first was using depression as a focus. However, I use confidence." She left out the name difference since it would mean nothing to the others.

Usagi looked at Setsuna and said, "When you said that Ranma was fast to adapt, I did not think that fast."

Ranma then appeared to have remembered something; she spoke, "I have a favor to ask of you, Ami."

Ami looked confused and asked, "What is it? I will help if I can."

Ranma then replied, "I have a device that I can only access in my Senshi form. It is a tracking and scanning device. It is supposed to be like a remote terminal to the Mercury computer. It can identify weakness in Youma and identify the best Senshi to fight it. However it requires an active link to the Mercury computer to work."

Ami nodded and said, "Sure, I can help with that."

Ranma then transformed and summoned the device.

Ami accessed it via the Mercury computer. Actually, once the computer was told to look it found and generated the link automatically. Then Ranma returned the device to where it came from and powered down.

Just as Ranma sat down there was a knock at the door and Setsuna said, "That should be the food I ordered."

-

They were all sitting down near the table. However, Usagi and Ranma appeared to be performing some kind of weird food fight. Only, instead of throwing the food it appeared to be a contest of who could eat more. It boggled the mind at how two petite girls could eat almost their body weight in food. After the first few seconds of seeing this, the others all moved away from the table to ensure that their own plates were safe from the madness.

Michiru looked at Setsuna and said, "So that is why you ordered so much."

Setsuna smirked and countered, "No, if Ranma was hungry Usagi would not have stood a chance."

Everyone sweat dropped except the two contestants of the eating game.

-

After the meal was finished, the Senshi started the usual routine. Makoto and Minako started comparing boys they saw. Ranma was sure they were comparing him to some of them, but she kept her quiet. Michiru and Haruka were snuggling off to one side. Usagi and Rei were fighting over manga. Hotaru was talking to Mercury while absentmindedly listening to Makoto and Minako. Ranma walked over and sat next to Setsuna.

Ranma then spoke first and in a low voice said, "Is it always like this?"

Setsuna nodded and replied at the same voice level, "Yes, this is fairly par for the meetings." After a moment she continued, "You are worried about how your mother will take this right?"

Ranma simply gave a nod

Setsuna finished, "Don't. You have nothing to fear from her, she would not actually ask you to do that. I recommend telling the whole truth to her."

Ranma again nodded but looked a little more reassured.

Setsuna then thought, 'Now your Mother's family will be a surprise, one that will floor you.' She then vanished in a flash of light and went back to the Time Gates, where she promptly lost all control and laughed herself silly.

-

After another 20 minutes, and one gender change later, the meeting broke up and everyone went home.

As Ranma was walking towards the Tendo Dojo, he was wondering if that really was home. He was half way through Nerima, when he noticed his mother. He had managed to get this far as a guy, so he decided to approach her.

When Nodoka saw Ranma land several feet in front of her, she immediately recognized him. She then, at a speed that, to Ranma, rivaled the Amaguriken, quickly hugged him.

After a few minutes she let go and looked at her son and said, "I am so happy you came back, son. You must tell me about where you were hiding. Ryoga-kun told us about that Moon you were on, although I am disappointed that you had to hide as a girl during that time, but I suppose several hundred girls would be too much for even you."

Ranma shuddered inwardly, slightly regretting his decision to confront his mother at this time. It was then that he noticed something. He then spoke, "Mom, where is the family honor blade?"

Nodoka looked at her son and smiled. She was a little concerned at how Ranma would take this little tidbit of news. She then said simply, "I divorced your father this afternoon. Actually, I did it right after that nice Sailor Senshi, Siren I think her name was, made that speech about arranged marriages. She was definitely a tomboy and was not a proper lady at all, but she did have a point."

Ranma grimaced inwardly, thinking, 'When my mother finds out the truth about this…'

Then Nodoka continued, not noticing the reactions her son was having to her side of the discussion, "Come on son, it is past time to meet more of your family." She then began leading Ranma back towards Juuban. Ranma could not miss the cosmic irony of this.

Nodoka continued, "When I divorced your father, I moved your name to my family's register. This time tomorrow, you will be Ranma Kinseino." Ranma thought of the name and was wondering if some Kami had planned this.

Ranma thought specifically, 'After I met the inner Senshi, I realized that all their names are appropriate to their Senshi identities, and mine… I am the Senshi of balance for a world of women. Well, as the saying goes 'women are from Venus.''

Then Nodoka ruined Ranma's train of thought and said, "Ohh! I must invite Sailor Siren over for tea and thank her for inspiring me to finally get up the courage to leave Genma. Perhaps you two might even become friends and maybe even…" her eyes became starry eyed, and she continued, "Grandchildren!"

Ranma face faulted into the sidewalk, the former matriarch of the Saotome clan then said in shock, "Are you alright son?"

Ranma replied, "Yes, but I can tell you that nothing is going to happen like that between us."

His mother was surprised and asked, "You mean you know her"

He answered, "Yes, you can say we returned from Siren together"

In a worried tone she pressed, "Is something wrong?"

Ranma decided to end this now, he was going to tell her but not in the middle of a street in Nerima. He stated, "No, but there is something you should know. I will have to tell you later."

They continued on to their 'current home' and chatted about the follies of Genma.

-

In some unknown private library, an elderly woman was speaking to someone a couple of decades younger. There was nobody else in the room except the two. The Elder said to her young counterpart, "So, she has returned."

The younger elder replied, "It was as you predicted Matriarch. All the others were accounted for at the time."

The Elder smiled and said, "I thought as much, I hope though things for the future are not complicated by this small problem."

The younger bowed to leave and said on her way out, "I doubt it mother."

-

Author's Note:  
At the suggestion of a prereader I am writing the dragon ascension wave as: Hiryu Shoten Ha instead of hyphenating it from this point onward.

As to the effects of the Beauty soap, the effects last two days normally after a single use, but because the Senshi's transformation seems to include a bath, the effects are removed after changing back.

Review Reply (sorry for not doing this sooner RL and time was an issue. Also I am just putting a General thanks to all reviews and will only Name and specifically reply when appropriate. Meaning I only reply once per chapter set per person. Sorry Jerry Unipeg… however I will try to answer all questions in a single reply)

Slade3 As to the Ki vs Magic it is not that Ranma cannot use his Ki or soul of ice it is that the way he uses his Ki that prevents him from accessing it.

When Ranma uses his 'Moko Takabisha' he forces his confidence toward his opponent. The reason he does not use it constantly is the side effect of it causing him to become ore confident. This leads to an upward spiral until his confidence will blind him to real dangers. Thus something of that nature would be lethal to a Senshi. The same would be true to all emotions, just lethal or dangerous for a different reason.

Picture Moon who over used love attacks. She would refuse to destroy a Youma because it is alive, even with it killing innocent children and the other Senshi in front of her. (Far fetched true, but that is my take on it) (Her and Venus's love attacks have Magical roots thus are different since their magic would be designed to not have that flaw.

As to the Soul of Ice… The Senshi protective magics keep her body a constant temperature. Remember they were on the moon before and it did not affect them with cold or the lack of Air. 

Ultimately Ranma will have to compensate for these new holes in 'her' tactics.

Pilgrim Ahh, that answers that. Guys are treated to my understanding with some limited freedom on Siren... As long as they are in wedlock and heavily under guard.

SlickRCBD Thanks for the Review, and I knew this would come up sooner or later.  
"why Ranma would be unable to use Ki-based moves in Senshi form. Other than a deliberate block to create a weakness to keep him from being too powerful"  
There were two factors to this decision, first is what you said as a limiter, but more importantly is if you understand Ki moves like Moko Takabisha and shi shi hokodan, then you understand that they cause slow damage to a person's emotional state. using confidence causes a person to become more confidant, ultimately leading to over confidence.

"Also, it's probably too late to change it now, but the name "Sailor Siren" is probably a bad choice, as it's very similar to "Sailor Aluminum Siren", the name of one of the corrupted senshi from the Galaxia saga"  
That I did not know. My knowledge of Sailor moon comes from Ranma/SM crossovers almost exclusively. I do have a "content and Character reviewer" (cough Urborg cough) to ensure that I keep true to cannon. As he said "Fannon is deadly."

However given the nature of this multi crossover, my options for the name is limited. However there is a possibility that I have the Moon's name wrong too. If that happens i will have to rewrite.

Ranko1 Thanks for the comments!

In regard to Ranma being a fighting kami, all I am saying is that Ranma WILL take hits. 'Sailor Siren' will be the most skilled of the Senshi, however due to circumstances beyond her control; Sailor Siren will never be the most powerful Senshi. At best she is #4 (Moon, Saturn, Pluto (not necessarily in that order, because all 3 have powers that are not easily compared to each other)), assuming that Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Neptune and Uranus are all out with bad colds. Mercury is a Tactician, which is her specialty. In fact if you think about it they all have very well defined rolls. But there is nobody in the Manga that specializes in mass removal. 

Jerry Unipeg Thanks again, I am glad to see that i have constant readers.

Wonderbee31 Akaji... is a secret... Yes there is significance to who he was and is.

And once again I say that final matchups are still not apparent

bsscharon (Anonymous)  
What reason does Ranma have to be a guy, he is one at heart, however the trouble and time spent on Siren removed most of his... inhibitions about being a girl. Ohh yes the families... all I will say is... Bwhahahahahahahahahaha! I am planning something very evil.

pixy Well as asked here it is... more Thanks for reviewing.

yea (Anonymous)  
Details will come as needed; some things need fewer details then others. I am mostly going to focus on details that are needed first. The side story was in part inspired by this review.

and to the powers part, all due things in time. I can not give everything away at once. that would make the story dull.

Lerris Sorry about the starting method, but sometimes Stereotypical/cliche opening, but I needed a depressed Ranma and this seemed to be the best way to do it.

Ranma will not have the ability to change Siren for some time, and even then it would be culturally suicide to do so. It may not be fair but in their culture things are as they are for survival. And Ranma can appreciate that.

"This is a unique twist on Ranma/Sailor Moon crossovers. Overall good work. I'm looking forward to the next chapter"  
Thanks, I will try not to disappoint.

Alex Ultra Thanks for the review!

In reference to your comments of Gene Shaft, that maybe true to than however I am doing allot of reading between the lines for Girl's Bravo. I mean we get effectively an episode worth of the planet in the only season so far in the series. Even the name Siren i am not sure about. It is either the name of the City or the Moon. Sources conflict that point.

ranger5 Thanks, I have enjoyed your work as well and I am sorry that I do not review as much. I am looking forward to more 'Forever the Tomboy'

Ranma is going to try and come up with more attacks. Ultimately she will more the double her arsenal. However like all attacks there are costs involved. I had stated that Ranma will not become a fighting kami, he may be in many regards, however I am going to keep true to his character of merely over confident, and highly skilled.

Innortal Thanks for the compliments, as to Nodoka supporting Ranma and herself; with the planning I have that will not be a problem. I am tempted to let slip something here but all I will say there will be a new twist on 'Girl Training"

No Akaji will not look, and did not look, like Ranma's male side

calamite I am always trying to keep you guys guessing, as I said before I am evil in leaving bread crumbs all around. And you should always read my replies since I do leave hints there.

After all I did hint to Ami there, I felt it was pretty obvious too. But knowing inside info does help.

Gawl Heh Ranma will want to punch Pluto, but I do not plan on it happening. I can assure all of you there will be no matchups with guys. And there will be no person showing up that is the reincarnation of Akaji.

Whew, I hope I did not miss any. 


	8. C6 Cringe

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

-

Chapter 6 – Cringe

-

Ranma and Nodoka had finally arrived at the Kinseino family home. It was fairly large, especially for a house in the Tenth district of Minato Ward, or Juuban, as it was informally called. The house was three stories tall. Ranma had been raised by a thief, AKA Genma, and was taught how to analyze a house from its outward appearance. This house's top floor was obviously a residential area, with bedrooms. This assumption was based on the size and even spacing of the windows, added to what he knew about traditional construction.

The second floor from this angle seemed to be half residential. However, Ranma also knew that this floor would traditionally hold the guest rooms. The bottom floor, Ranma surmised, would have the remaining necessities.

Ranma also noticed a few other buildings in the compound, including a dojo sized one, one that looked like an old shrine, and one that appeared too small to be anything other than a maintenance shed.

Nodoka entered and ushered Ranma in behind her before shouting out a traditional "Tadaima!"

An elderly woman entered and said, "You returned faster then I had expected, daughter. I hope you have good news." She then noticed an unsure Ranma behind his mother, and then she smiled and continued, "Would this young man be my grandson, Ranma, by any chance? Hmm?"

Nodoka replied, "Yes, mother, it is. I found him when I was returning from the Tendo's. He appeared to be coming from this area, actually."

Ranma noticed his grandmother flash a smile that, for some reason, made him think of both Pluto and Nabiki. He was not sure why, but hoped it was for good reasons.

Ranma's grandmother kept smiling and said, "Probably being manly and chasing the short skirted girls that frequent the ward, no doubt." She then winked at Ranma, making him feel exposed but unable to say anything. He may not have been the brightest, but he was not about to renounce his manliness in front of his mother, plus the fact that technically in some weird way she was close to the truth. That scared him more then he would ever admit.

Nodoka was busy in dreamland picturing a small army of grandchildren.

Ranma remembered that the other Senshi did make it clear that he was to keep it quiet about him being Sailor Siren. Ranma did mention that he was raised to be a 'man amongst men.' But that assured the other girls very little. Pluto all but told him to tell his mother but he was a little concerned.

His grandmother then led Ranma and his mother into the family home and had someone round up the family.

-

Ranma was sitting at a good-sized table that had enough room for a dozen people. At the moment there were ten people sitting there.

Ranma did not know any names, but the way that the three girls kept looking at him and giggling unnerved him. Then another person entered the room. She was old, not as old as the ghoul or pervert, but old nonetheless.

She spoke, "Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to confirm something again." Again she smiled and looked at Ranma and Ranma felt he was part of some joke that he was not in on.

After she sat down Nodoka stood up and started introducing everyone, "Everyone, as you probably guessed or know, this is my son Ranma." Again the three girls giggled while the other women smirked. Ranma was a little scared but hid it well.

Nodoka continued, "Ranma, this is my grandmother Eriko." The old woman who entered a moment ago nodded. She continued and gestured to each person as she said their names, and they nodded, "My mother Keiko, My twin sister Komi, her husband Okita, their daughters Koika and Aika, my other sister Hanako, her husband Daiki, and their daughter Jiko."

Both his grandmother and great grandmother made it crystal clear where his girl form's looks came from. He was told that his girl form looked like his mother at that age. Well, following along that way of thinking, he saw what she would look like at about 45 and 65 with those two. Both wore Kimonos, but Eriko had a pair of katana on her back. Ok, Ranma was a little scared of that, but he would not show it.

Hanako and Daiki looked like a classic 30 something couple, only both were in business suits. Hanako had black hair while Daiki had dark blonde. Dike's hair was short and in a very business style, while Hanako had a low ponytail tied off with string.

Komi looked like Nodoka except she wore a double braid that was hip length. The braid consisted of three other smaller braids. She was wearing some Kind of gi. Her husband had black hair. It looked like it was blacker at one time, but it was fading. It wasn't turning grey, but it wasn't dark black anymore. He was wearing a simple shirt and pants. He had glasses and three pens in his shirt pocket. 

Almost everyone except his uncles and Jiko had blue eyes.

Ranma paused a moment and said, "Is this everyone? Or do we have just a small family?"

Eriko responded, "There were others but they all either died or married into other families and we lost contact. In truth, that was a few generations ago, as my daughter and I were only children, and same with you and Jiko. Your mother's generation is the biggest in eight generations."

Okita excused himself and left the room casually as if to get something.

Ranma looked at her then said, "I was just wondering, 'cause from what my mother said, the only guys in the family are me and my uncles."

Everyone but Ranma chuckled or giggled at that statement.

Eriko then spoke noticing Ranma's obvious frustration, "Ranma, you are the first boy born to our family in our clan's recorded history. And we can trace back over 500 years. Although your Jusenkyo curse seems to want to fix that."

Ranma was dumbfounded. 'They know about the curse!' he thought.

Ranma's mother noticed the slightly panicked look on Ranma's face and spoke to him, "I had to tell them Ranma, secrets will only hurt the family." 

Ranma only made a noncommittal sound, and then was splashed by one of the girls who wore an insufferable smirk turned grin. Ranma remembered the girl's name was Aika.

Her older sister, Koika, spoke up and said, "She looks like you Jiko."

Everyone looked between the two girls. Ranma's hair was in a pony tail with a scrunchy and the Dragon's Whisker, although the whisker was not really visible.

Jiko's build was almost identical to Ranma-chan's, except Jiko was more muscular. Jiko had green eyes and midnight black hair. All three of Ranma's cousins wore their hair in ponytails. Jiko wore hers in a high ponytail like Ranma, where the sisters had them low. Jiko currently was wearing a white T-shirt and green form fitting pants.

Aika and Koika were both wearing green gis with blue belts. Ranma was sure that blue had some meaning only to this family's art. She realized with the Dojo and three people wearing gis, not to mention his grandmother, great grandmother, and Komi all had auras of fighters, that there must be a family art.

The other girls looked similar in build to Jiko, but not much like hers.

Ranma was wearing her red self-supporting shirt that she had picked up on Siren and her Chinese pants that she was wearing on 'Murphy's Day'. Thus she had on a fairly shirt (except where the elastics gave support) and very loose pants.

Suddenly one of Ranma's Aunts, Komi, snapped her fingers and said, "So that's why your shirt is designed like that. It must be like a sports bra."

Ranma blushed and looked at the table as if examining the grains on the surface, then finally replied, "It acts more like a cross between a sports bra and a normal one. At least it's inconspicuous when I am a guy."

Komi then asked, "Do you have any more of those? I would like to try making some if you don't mind."

Ranma reached into her sleeve, and pulled out another shirt, a white one, and handed it to Komi. She had learned the hidden weapons technique not too long after Mousse showed up, but Mousse sacrificed too much Ki to store too much, thus Ranma only used it sparingly. Although Ranma left most of what 'she' had on Siren behind, 'she' took a few supplies, just in case.

Keiko raised her eyebrow and spoke, "Ki Storage. I am impressed. I had yet to meet someone who could actually do it."

Ranma smirked and replied, "I learned after being on the receiving end of a combat form of it. He called his school 'Hidden Weapons'. He could carry four times his weight in it, but I found that the baggier the clothing you are wearing the more you can carry. However, you also have to sacrifice Ki to maintain it. The Ki used is related to the weight of it rather then number of items or how big they are."

Keiko smiled and asked, "That could be most useful. Think you could teach some of us how to do it?"

Ranma nodded then added, "It is easy to learn if you have advanced to the level of using Ki to boost your abilities."

At this time Okita returned with a tray with enough cups of tea for everyone.

Everyone accepted their tea and, as they drank, they told Ranma about his heritage.

-

Back at the Tendo household, Waterworks Tendo, also known as Soun Tendo, was living up to his Waterworks title.

Between sobs he whined to his friend about the schools not being joined.

Genma was human at the moment. Physically human, anyway. As such, he was trying to get Soun to stop crying up a river.

Outwardly, Kasumi was behaving normally, but she was glad that Ranma finally had a chance at happiness with his mother. She disapproved of the divorce, but realized it really was necessary, especially what she heard about what that nice Sailor Senshi said.

Akane was repeatedly calling herself a 'Baka' for entirely missing her chance. She was in the dojo breaking bricks to relieve stress.

Nabiki was upstairs and cursing the Sailor Senshi's ability to not be photographed well. All her photos of Sailor Siren were blurry. Oddly, all that was clear was the outfit. She could not even tell the hair color.

Genma had finally calmed Soun down, and they were somewhere in the house planning. Their plan was simple. When Ranma returned, and he would return, they would simply not tell him that he was not a Saotome any more. Then they would have him marry Akane and move him to the Tendo register.

-

Ranma suddenly shuddered and did not know why.

-

Usagi was sitting at home talking to Luna about the new Sailor Senshi. Unlike a month ago, they were talking in front of her parents. After her father found out that Siren was really a guy, he was holding his shotgun, or, more accurately, the remains. The Youma he tried shooting did not leave much of it, and shotguns were hard to come by in Japan. All that there was left was the handle and the trigger. The entire barrel was cleaved off.

Luna chuckled, and Usagi's mother asked her what was so funny.

Luna replied to her, "Siren had a sparring match with Sailor Uranus without Senshi form and won using sheer fighting skill. In fact, I believe that even if that gun worked, it would not be much of a threat to him, her, whichever."

The parents were shocked at this. After all, the Senshi magic was suppose to make them unbeatable, right?

"How is that possible?" asked Usagi's mother.

Usagi replied, "From what Siren told us, unlike the rest of the Senshi she was raised to be a warrior, a martial artist of unparalleled skill. She was raised from when she could walk in the arts of war."

Luna added, "I did a mind meld with Siren and saw her past first hand. With her past, I am shocked that she turned out as she did. I think a lesser person would have killed themselves over it, but all her sacrifices were worth it to her."

Ikuko looked at her daughter and Luna and asked, "If she is a he, then why do you keep referring to him as a her?"

Usagi looked at her mother and replied, "Two reasons. First, she was a girl most of the night, and second…" she gestured towards her father.

Kenji was stroking his gun's handle and muttering something about hormonally overactive boys.

The other three just stared and Ikuko got up and walked over to her husband to talk some sense into him.

-

Ami was arriving home at the same time that Usagi was talking to her parents; she went and told her mother about the new Senshi. She left out the parts about it being Ranma and Siren being both male and female. If things developed that way then she would tell her mother. However, she did to want to push things with Ranma after what was revealed about Nerima.

-

Makoto and Minako were at Minako's, planning on stealing Ranma away from Ami, Artemis and Minako's parents were listening to the girls plan, and Artemis only said, "Sometimes those girls worry me. One second they are dedicated demon hunters, the next they are falling over themselves for some boy."

The parents could only agree with that.

-

Rei was sitting in front of the sacred fire and was trying to get a better understanding on their current enemy, without much success, unfortunately. This enemy was not as 'loud' when it came to making their presence known outside of battle.

-

Haruka was asleep. She was a little sorer than she had let on at the temple and decided to hide it. Michiru was a little concerned but knew she would be all right. She went back to staring at her mirror and hoped it would give some sign of what was to come, but as with Rei, it was ultimately a waste of time.

Hotaru was in her room reading manga. New Senshi or not, she had a few years of manga reading to catch up on.

Setsuna was annoyed that the time gates would not even let her see the battles that had happened. Somehow, the enemy was able to entirely block themselves from view. She was desperately trying to come up with ways to fix this little problem. If the time gates allowed this enemy to be seen, then the Senshi could achieve their super and eternal forms.

-

The next day Ranma was up early practicing in the Dojo. He was wearing his normal Chinese style clothing. While going through several kata his mind was on the last evening. He though, 'No wonder mom was always so big on me being manly. I mean, even my cousins were teasing me on it. I am the first known male Kinseino without marrying into the clan. And with the family as small as it is. But I don't care what they say about that. I am not going to become like… the one whose name should never be spoken.' 

Ranma was just becoming happy with his life, the last thing he needed was to have to explain Happosai to the Senshi. Then again, Pluto would know about him, but if he touched any of them, he doubted that Happosai would survive the matter. Perhaps a dunking in nyannichuan would fix the old pervert. But, although he could fantasize all he wanted about tortures against the troll, he could not implement any of them willingly.

His mind was so occupied he did not notice his mother come in.

When he finally stopped and noticed her, he decided now was the best time to tell her the truth about Siren.

Ranma was sitting in front of his mother. He spoke, "Mother, there's a secret that you need to know about me. However, before I tell you, do you still hold me to that seppuku pledge?"

Nodoka looked at her son, and finally replied, "When I divorced your father, that pledge went with him. Besides, it was for Ranma Saotome, not Ranma Kinseino."

Ranma spoke, "Mom, I changed when I was on that moon, and I became something that I never would have dreamt about in nightmares or pleasant dreams..."

Nodoka interrupted, "You do not appear to be any different… Did you find a nice girl while you were there?"

Ranma blushed and exclaimed, "What?"

Nodoka asked again, "Did you find a nice girl that you have feelings for?" At this point it became clear to him where her brain was running.

His great grandmother and grandmother entered the room and sat down a tray of snacks. Between them so they all were sitting around the tray. Ranma did not want this secret to get out, so he decided to hold off on his confession.

Eriko spoke to Nodoka and said, "No-chan your son is trying to tell you he is Sailor Siren."

Time seemed to stop for a minute as the two elders saw the look of shock on Nodoka and the look of shock and horror on Ranma.

Nodoka finally found her voice and did an impressive confused Ranma impression when she choked out a confused, "Huh?"

Ranma found his voice a bit slower but actually got a word out and croaked out, "How?"

Keiko then replied, "We are the only living descendents of Siren's royal family after the fall of the Silver Millennium. That is why our family is almost exclusively female. When you were born, we were worried that we miss tracked the linage. You see, when the 'Moon Kingdom' fell, a prophet warned of the return of the lost princess, but only if the family lived on earth. The prophet said that the royal family would be cursed to be forever small and would retain the female birth rate of our homeland until Siren's princess returned."

Keiko took a drink as Eriko continued for her, "Unlike the other Senshi, our Kingdom survived the fall. However, its tie to this world is controlled through the lunar royal artifact, and the Gates of time. Thus, if one or both are not fully functional the connection is not very strong. Since the artifact was drained when the 'Moon Kingdom' fell, Siren the moon was outside of the threat of the 'Evil Kingdom'. By the time the connection was restored it was too late. The only world left was Earth."

The Elders switched drinking and speaking again. Keiko finished, "Our ancestors were told by the prophet to settle in what is now Minato ward's tenth district, Juuban. When the other Senshi were seen for the last two years, we watched our youngest generation closely for any signs of them carrying the power. When you reappeared as Sailor Siren, and you were the only member of the family not accounted for, we added it up quickly. You were the first direct descendant not female, you were not around when Siren made her appearance, and you were a natural fighter, beyond anything that can be attributed to Genma."

There was silence for a minute then Ranma asked, "Who else knows?"

Eriko answered, "Nobody. This is for you to share with whom you trust. Eventually, the others will know when they get older. Our family has a long life span. We typically live a little over a hundred years, but a disease Killed of my mother and her mother twenty years ago. Thus it is traditional to tell the next generation after their husbands die of old age. We have written records of our history that only the elders of the clan were permitted to see. Not to mention some family art styles and techniques."

Nodoka was subconsciously stroking her nonexistent katana. At that time her mother escorted her off to somewhere to help her cope. The shock of her son being a magical girl seemed too much for her system.

After the other two left, Eriko turned to Ranma and said, "This is a lot to take in. Meditate on it and come to the library if you have any questions."

-

Ranma was never the sit still and meditate kind of person. He tried doing kata to help focus, but that did not help. So he tried exploring the house. 

He stepped out of the dojo and looked around. The dojo was off center and against a side wall, it had no entrance aside from this one and it faced the center of the yard. Obviously, they did not accept challenges.

Directly across from the dojo was a Koi pond. In the far corner by the Koi pond there was the old broken down building. It was about the size of a shrine or something, but it looked uncared for. Odd, in Ranma's mind

To his left, and directly opposite the house, was a small building. Judging from the fact he saw a small set of tire tracks in front, that faded quickly, he assumed it was a storage shed, and had some Kind of lawn tractor in there.

As Ranma walked towards the house he saw Okita coming out to feed the fish. He checked with his Ki sense to figure out where the others were. His mother and grandmother were on the third floor; his great grandmother was on the second in the library. He could sense Komi in the Kitchen. He knew these auras so fast because his great grandmother had a powerful knowledgeable aura; his grandmother had more power in hers, but less focus. He knew his mother's fairly well, anyway. Komi's was the strongest of the remainder.

His mind drifted towards the house, as he walked toward it. It was not very traditional, and had a lot of what seemed to be western influence. It was built with heavy materials, and was quite sturdy. In truth, Ranma could level the Tendo's house just by will alone. His Moko Takabashi was strong enough for that. However, he doubted that his attack would do more than heavy damage. Not destroy the house, but it would do damage. Not that he would, but it was how he perceived it.

The entire House had a U shape to it. The 'bottom' of the U was the entrance, and on the other side was the back door. You could walk from one door to the other and only pass though the hall dividing them. As Ranma entered he noticed both doors had a thermal, inner door. In western design this was used to allow people to enter a house, without letting all the heat out. Most Japanese homes did not have this feature.

He continued his exploration, the first floor seemed to be very guest and visitor oriented. The hall between the entrances led to a recreation room. This seemed more like a lounging area where the focus was a television, but it could easily be something in front of the television. This room was if you took the hall to the left from entering on the outside side. The other way led to a large relatively empty room. It was a dining room as it had one large table that could easily sit 12-15 people. There were other tables against the wall, so, in a pinch, the room could easily seat more.

The next room was a meal room. It had a smaller table; it was actually the room he first was introduced to his family. This room was the actual room that was used for meals. The other room was used when there were special guests over, on business or non-family guests.

Then came the Kitchen, which was five times the Kitchen in the Tendo Home. Kasumi would probably flip over this room.

On the opposite side of the house was the staircase up to the next floor and a large storage closet. The so-called storage closet could be converted to a guest room very easily, and probably was at one point. But time and need changed its purpose.

The top floor was lined with rooms; the one behind the stairs was his. The sisters apparently shared a room. He thought it a bit odd that both aunts and uncles lived here, but shrugged it off because he was still an outsider to the details of family life here. There were about nine rooms in all.

Since there was a room left, Ranma did not know why the sisters shared a room, but again he was new here.

It was the middle floor that was important for the moment. It had only two things on it... the library and the bathroom. The furo was large enough for ten people. So, Ranma looked at the stairs and realized the entire floor between the first and third floor was heavily reinforced. And from probably fire proof since the library was in the wing over the Kitchen.

In the bathroom there were four sinks and two western style toilets in individual stalls. The bathroom also looked like it was just redone within the last year or two.

After he finished his business in the bathroom he entered the library. The room was big, with a section closed off, which probably held some stuff that was meant to be kept secret from the rest of the family. He also mused that this was what he mistook in his initial impression for where the guest room would be.

The main room was lined with shelves and books with a few tables and displays showing family heirlooms. He saw his great grandmother sitting at a table reading so he approached and after getting a nod he sat down to talk.

Omake Omake Omake

- This was inspired by Alex Ultra's Review of chapter 5 (7 including prologue and ss) -

Ranma spoke, "Mom I changed when I was on that moon, and I became something that I never would have dreamt about in nightmares or pleasant dreams..."

Nodoka interrupted, "You took up the title of Sailor Siren?"

Ranma blushed and whispered while looking surprised, "Yes, but how…"

Nodoka interrupted, "Don't be surprised or ashamed, I have kept a secret from you too, I am… insert magical transformation sequence Sailor Orkin… Exterminator of Pests. Your real father is the Orkin man," add squeal like little girl "He was so manly!"

Ranma's eye twitched as he slowly backed out of the room.

Sorry Alex, resist I could not.

(Added disclaimer, I have no clue who owns the Orkin man trademark (probably a company called Orkin) but it is not me.)

Author's Note

Sorry about the Omake, but what Alex said screamed to be written, I promise I will not make a habit of this random form of torture. I will only Omake when inspired, I will not seek Omake.

Also according to the manga, according to my prereader Urborg, Usagi went through three grades: 8, 9, and 10; through the series. Thus the 'Inners' would be 16. Ranma would still be 16 since this takes place within the first third of the Ranma manga. I am playing that Ranma was living at the Tendo's for about 7 months when his mother arrived. As is noted, some events still happened (Konatsu) but most of the rest didn't. Ranma would have just turned 16 before they went to the Dojo, actually I am saying he would have turned 16 on route from China, since it was a 10-year training trip and Ranma was taken at 5-6. It is going to help keep the ages about the same.

Here is a description of Ranma's newly acquired family members:

Ranma's Cousins Aika – About as skilled as Jiko, is a year younger then her sister and the youngest cousin. She is often over protected by Jiko and Koika. Ranma does not treat her any different but is over protective of all three

Koika – Very interested in the art, is the most skilled of Ranma's Cousins, gets into the habit of morning spars with the other two. When Ranma shows she focuses entirely on him.

Jiko – Unlike her parents she has a strong interest in the art, but balances it with her life. She likes Music but has no talent for it. Looks a lot like Ranma-chan's girl form. In her first year of Junior High she was teased for her name. After she introduced the offenders to her family art using two bokkens, she was left alone.

Ranma's Aunts Komi – married to Okita – She the best of her sisters in the family art, to her family is everything and she cares deeply for everyone, except Genma. She is Nodoka's twin sister (identical twin). She has other interests and is fairly good at sewing

Hanako – married to Daiki – He runs the family business with Daiki as pure partners sharing all responsibilities. They only have a single daughter, Jiko. She was never interested in the family art; as such she has very little combat training. (She only has 3rd level ranking in Kempo)

Ranma's Uncles – Daiki – married to Hanako – He runs the family business with Hanako as pure partners sharing all responsibilities. They only have a single daughter, Jiko. Daiki married into the family and has no combat training.

Okita – married to Komi – Has limited interest in the Art. Is trained as much as his sister-in-law Hanako. He handles clan Finances, and holdings

Ranma's Grandmother (Nodoka's Mother)  
Keiko – The Current Grandmaster of the family art (a form of Kendo based on twin katana and Ronin blades)

Ranma's Great Grandmother Eriko – The current clan Matriarch. Her combat skills are still sharp but with age came physical limitations.  
Most of these descriptions will appear in the story; I am just adding them here to help with relation ship questions.

-

All the names are classified as common Japanese names except Jiko, that one is purely made up but follows naming conventions. The meaning, if you can guess it, resulted in her having to show her schools dual sword specialty. A hint is look at Nodoka's name and compare possible meanings for her sisters and mother and grandmother.

-

Reviewer Replies:

Slade3

I always welcome ideas and opinions; I love debating Ranma ideas personally, and really enjoy discussing why I do something rather then simply accepting it.

As I had said, Girl's Bravo is still new and only has a handful of episodes

Jerry Unipeg

Thanks for the reply, and yes she did get quite on ne?

Alex Ultra

I also said bread crumbs, BREAD CRUMBS! I have plans for him, however you will never be able to tell what they are, Mwhahahahaha! Ok enough evil

True, however power in the sense of combat, especially 1v1 she is very lacking.

You asked for that Omake now enjoy it ;)

Lerris

Technically Ranma has not really returned to Nerima yet, only passed through it briefly. But how will Akane and the others take Ranma being a Kinseino… Tune in next time, Same Senshi Time… Same Senshi Channel… (Dang old batman reruns… I haven't seen it in 3 years and it is still stuck in my head. Arrrg!)

Wonderbee31

I do plan on Ranma having Nodoka's support in this, and no the Neko-ken is gone for good. He will still be afraid, at first, of normal cats, but that can be removed with therapy and time.

Innortal

Hmm Perhaps I might but the Usagi joke was done and is now Cliché. As to supporting herself… The Kinseino's are well off.

I plan on making this Epic, unless I lose interest, updates may not be fast or consistent, but I will keep them coming unless I say otherwise in an AN; and you WILL get a full ending Chapter to go with it. 


	9. C7 Continuity

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

-

Chapter 7 – Continuity

-

Keiko shook her head. Her daughter was like she was at that age, head in the clouds. All that happened between her and Ranma, and now this. Her daughter was simply too stuck in her little fantasy world to come down willingly. She mentally sighed and thought, 'I will have to bring her back to Earth the same way that mother brought me down. Knock down the foundation, then crash head first… It will hurt her, but I have no choice.'

She looked at her daughter, and Nodoka was clearly having a mental war. Her expression kept changing between: shock, fear, amusement, pride, and anger. The anger confused her, but it only appeared occasionally. She spoke to her daughter, "Nodo-chan." No response. She spoke again, louder this time, "Nodo-chan!" This would be a long night.

-

Ranma was sitting across the table from his great grandmother. He did not know what to feel, but knew that this was for his benefit. He was a little unnerved at his great grandmother's know-it-all and experience aura she projected, not to mention the confidence aura almost as big as his own. Now that Ranma thought about it, both his mother and grandmother had it too, and to a lesser extent his entire family, except his uncles. He realized that it must be a family trait.

Eriko smiled at her grandson as she poured him some tea, and started to tell him about the Legend of Siren and the family's history and duties. She said, "I suppose it is best to tell you about what we know of Siren. Some of it you should already know, if not all of it, but I want to make sure you know what I know." She waited for Ranma's confirming nod to continue. 

After she got it, she continued, "From what our records and legends say, Siren was originally from a parallel universe, or pocket reality, or some such thing. It was pulled into our universe by the Moon Kingdom's doing. But to keep it from endangering the Earth or the Moon itself, it was left out of sync with our reality. I do not know how all this happened; only that it happened in this way. In truth, our records are over a thousand years old and have been copied and retranslated over a dozen times so it may not match exactly how it came to be."

"The Moon, Siren, was unstable, and would not remain anchored to our time, but it did seem to compensate strangely. When it was ultimately stabilized it was in a pocket where time for it ran faster than the rest of the system, however, it also increased the life span of the inhabitants so that it seemed to balance out. The Moon was settled by pioneers from Venus. At the time, Venus had a 90 percent female birth rate. The problem with this was Venusians could easily just go spouse hunting on other planets and take their husbands back to Venus. Thus, despite the birth rate, Venus had a 45 percent male population. However, Siren had a problem. Travel could only occur between Earth and Siren, and required water mages to initialize the teleportation."

"This caused many problems, so in an agreement between Earth, Siren and the Moon, a low level magical field would be placed on the Earth. This field had strong foci points that also allowed other water magics to occur naturally. The field was designed so that random young men would be teleported from the Earth to Siren. But, to keep from abducting guys who were content in their lives, it was designed to take only guys who were mistreated by females, and were depressed. It does not take every guy who is like that and is random. There is a final test before someone will be teleported. They must be knocked into a pool of water by an angry female. This was done to ensure that the magic was not mistaken."

"There was a method built in so that people on Siren could go to the Earth, however to travel they would require a special spell seal. It is about the size of a modern police badge." She paused for a minute while she sipped her tea, as Ranma did the same.

Ranma reflected on the pool of water part of it. He had three. He half smirked and held up three fingers. Eriko looked confused and then she chuckled as she remembered what Nodoka said about his being knocked into the pond by three angry suitors.

Ranma also thought about the 'seal' that she (at the time) saw. It did look like a police badge from a distance. Senna had to use it to send her to Earth. He also knew that the limitation on the badge required a connection between a spot on the Earth, like the Koi pond and a place on Siren, like 'Tranquility Lake'. That was the lake she arrived on Siren in. It took her a week to discover the name of it.

His great grandmother realized that this was probably a little too much at the moment, so she decided to switch topics for the moment. She decided to finish with the family's art. She said, "As you probably noticed, we have a lot of bokken in the dojo, and a few of us carry around bokken most of the time." She paused waiting for his confirming nod and continued when she got it, "Our family started practicing and perfecting an art to teach you when you awoke. It is a set of forms based on twin katana and a double sided katana. Some call it a Ronin blade, but ours, like your Senshi form's, is considerably larger." Ranma nodded, as much as he hated to admit it, that twin blade was longer than 'she' was tall. It was 5 feet long and his girl form was about 4 foot 10. It was not much, but the fact remained.

As they talked, Eriko easily persuaded Ranma to take lessons in the family style; from his cousins, then he would move on to Keiko, and finally herself. Ranma was more relearning forgotten techniques than learning new ones anyway. However, that added to Ranma's normal martial arts learning curve meant that he was actually ready to start with Keiko. Except this situation provided a perfect opportunity for Ranma to bond with his cousins. This also, as a bonus, gave Ranma a chance to be a guy around girls. She repressed a frown when she thought about the likelihood of Ranma having a big family after his time in Nerima.

After Ranma left, she decided to talk to her daughter. They wanted Ranma to be happy, marry a beautiful girl, and have an army of children… she shook her head out of the clouds. Fantasize later; right now she had work to do. 

-

Ranma sighed.

The Senshi were at Rei's shrine. They had just finished a long, boring talk about training.

It was like trying to keep Akane from cooking something inedible; not impossible, just very hard. The Sailor Senshi were mostly uninterested in training seriously. 

Usagi, in one of her Serenity moments, and Setsuna had agreed that the Senshi should spend at least an hour a day training, but to Ranma that was his warm up. 

Minako and Makoto were interested only in lessons from his 'guy form.' The problem was balance. Ranma had two combat 'styles' and used them uniquely for each body. The worst of the situation was what style he could claim. His/her own style on Siren lacked legitimacy on Earth, and he could not teach Anything Goes, as he was not licensed. But Setsuna had the answer. She somehow got the papers so 'She' could teach the school of the art: Hayoui Kakuu Isei Ryuu (fast aerial power style).

Ranma decided to open with a test similar to the kind she used on Siren. The test was simple. She took a wooden box and placed a small stone in it. The box had a place to lock a cover on; in this case it was a piece of paper. Once she did she gave the Senshi very simple instruction, and a few rules.

The instructions were simple. Remove the stone without damaging the paper or the box. The rules were: 1. The stone cannot be removed from the box if the paper is not touching the top. 2. If the paper is damaged, then the stone cannot be removed until the paper is replaced. 3. They have one hour to do the test.

Ranma decided to let all the parents try as well. The only two he kept out of the test were Setsuna and Rei's grandfather.

It was almost an hour and 60 sheets of paper later, and nobody seemed to be able to figure it out. Then Hotaru asked to try, Ranma nodded and the others let her try. Then when she removed the paper just enough for the stone to slide out the others gasped. And after Ranma smiled and nodded Ami asked, "I thought we had to remove the stone while the paper was still in place?" 

Ranma shook his head and repeated rule one. "The stone cannot be removed from the box if the paper is not touching the top." The others seemed confused.

Usagi's mother asked, "If all they had to do was that, then what was the point of the test?"

Ranma then replied, "Why did it take you all an hour to fail and Hotaru a minute to figure it out? I saw her smile a minute into the test and she knew all along. But she kept her peace since you all were too busy coming up new ways to cut paper." Ranma smirked at their reactions. The answer was so simple in hindsight. Ranma continued, "The point is you are making the same mistake many fighters make. You ignore all but what is put in front of you. If I simply said remove the stone and do not damage the paper or remove it all the way, you would have done it first try. When I train you, I will teach you that everything is a weapon, but to rely only on our hands and head in a fight."

-

Kasumi was cleaning the kitchen. Her father and Uncle Saotome were in the hospital. She sighed. Akane was cooking again. And since Ranma was not here, the fathers were the ones 'honored' by Akane.

She knew that this mess would take all evening to clean. She was just about to get started on the pots or, rather, salvage what she could. 'How can ramen explode, and burn green?' Kasumi wondered. When the phone rang, she answered "Tendo Residence... Auntie! I am glad you made it safely, although I did not expect your call… You found Ranma? How wonderful. I am sure that Akane will be happy to hear that… Oh my! I am sure Akane would not like to know that Ranma returned with Sailor Siren from that moon… So he is staying with your family… Of course I would love to come by tomorrow… Ok, one of Ranma's cousins will escort me there?... I understand, I am sure Ranma would like some time alone for a bit and get to know his family… Yes I hear Minato is a lot more peaceful then Nerima…Ok, talk to you tomorrow."

Kasumi smiled as she returned to her chores after hanging up the phone. But Nabiki also smiled when she hung up her extension.

-

Ranma knew that this was a dream, or was that a nightmare. But it felt like a memory, mostly forgotten.

Ranma was Sailor Siren at the moment. 'Triple Threat' was in its storage since both her arms were badly broken and she could not risk losing it. She was standing, barely. She could limp at best. She looked to her right and saw someone on the ground. He was wearing bloodied armor and it had a large hole in his chest, which was more than big enough for a fist. She did not have to check to know he was dead. She saw his killer in front of her, and he was holding some kind of crystal… some sort of soul gem. It contained his essence. 

She saw him talking and she was furious. But why? That guy, her boyfriend? The name 'Akaji.' Who was he? Who is he? Suddenly Akaji's killer shattered the crystal and sent its parts into other dying people in the room. She somehow knew it would fuse with their 'Heart Crystals' and become one with theirs. Akaji could never be resurrected. She heard her self cry out, "NOOOOO!" She collapsed to her knees mourning her loss. Knowing she would be right behind him.

She heard the killer, Falerite, speak. He was walking around behind her. He said, "Well! Such a pitiful performance, I would have expected better from the hunter." At that he chuckled. "But it is to be expected, you are weak, you let your personal feelings get in the way. Too bad it was all for naught. Your boyfriend will never be reincarnated, but I will not spare such an end for you. As much as I wish it, your powers prevent such a form of destruction." He grinned at her as if he were a predator sizing up its prey.

She would have killed him, or tried to hit him at the very least, but with two broken arms and her legs barely functional she knew any attempt to move now would be meaningless. However, she was not a quitter. She would die, but she still had an ace. All Senshi have an ace. Saturn's was the only one that was known, Siren could not implement that level of damage at the best of times, but even in her current condition, she could at least kill Falerite. If only he keeps gloating just a little longer.

Although Falerite was very good at his job, arrogance was a failing most Dark Kingdom soldiers suffered from. He continued, "Too bad my orders were specific, you must die. Otherwise… you would make quite a trophy…" As he sneered at her, she deeply wished she had use of her arms. 'Triple Threat' would make him sing as high as she did but as much as she wanted to do that she couldn't. She simply kept the helpless act on and looked 'fearfully' over her shoulder. Falerite was oblivious to what was going to happen. He finished his little speech, "Now be a good little helpless Senshi and die with dignity, not that you deserve it."

He moved to plunge his sword into her back but she spun around and got it in the chest. He was surprised by the seemingly futile move and smirked but paled when she saw her smirk as she suddenly grabbed him with her legs preventing escape. With a cry of 'Death Song Wave' everything went white. 

Every Senshi has a final attack, one that means death by default. It is usually powerful but each is different. Hers is a very much powered up 'Shocking Wave.' Even in her current condition it destroyed the core of Earth's capital city. All that was left from that energy pulse was debris that was scattered randomly for miles. As she felt the destruction wave claim her body she knew it was too late, Earth betrayed them, and the Earth military was on the move. And the Dark Kingdom was with them, leading them.

Ranma awoke with a start, he said to himself "No more foreign foods before bed." He shook his head and went off to get cleaned up.

-

"20,000 Yen each. Take it or leave it." Nabiki said with a smile.

Both Ukyo and Cologne frowned. They didn't even know Ranma had returned, and even though Cologne had an idea where Ranma was, she could not just run off without a real reason. The Sailor Senshi were well known, but nobody knew who they were. Thus it became obvious that identifying them would be difficult. And if Ranma was of the same mindset, she doubted Ranma would trust her in the long run for running after him using such information. Especially when it would make it possible for others to make that connection.

Konatsu was silent. He wanted autographs and telling 'Ukyo-sama' that Ranma was Siren would elicit a loss of respect, but because Ukyo would not believe it and a loss in trust from Ranma, who was the one most likely to get the afore mentioned autographs, he could not say anything.

Both Ukyo and Cologne gave Nabiki the money and she smiled and said, "He is currently in the 10th District of the Minato ward. I do not have an exact address yet, but Kasumi is being escorted there in an hour so you might want to follow her. Discretely, of course."

She then walked off back to the dojo. Cologne left Ucchan's and headed for the Nekohatten. She smiled slightly as her plans from yesterday were falling into place.

-

It was a bright and sunny day in Minato, except for that large cloud that seemed to be rolling in from Nerima. But it did not seem like it would amount to much, at least most people thought. Actually Ranma, as he was walking into the dojo to spar with his cousin Koika, thought 'Nothing can ruin today'. Ranma had regretted even thinking that immediately, remembering an old adage, ''Don't tempt fate, because she is cruel.' Or something like that anyway.' he thought.

Today Koika was going to show Ranma how to properly wield a double bokken, and Jiko was going to show how to wield two bokken.

Most people in Nerima thought Ranma hated weapons with a passion, especially Genma. But the truth is Ranma hated any semblance of dependence. As much as he disliked the fact, he was still looking to Genma for occasional guidance. And even Ranma, or more correctly, especially Ranma, knew Genma was not a good role model. Ranma looked at weapons as a tool, like he looks at the environment as a tool. He would use any advantage he could get. The reason he disliked depending on weapons is that if he only knew how to fight with them, then what would happen when he does not have them? But his role as Sailor Siren forced him to swallow that personal quirk and act on need.

The lessons went easy enough, as Eriko surmised, since his last life was dominated by this art for 'her' Senshi life, Ranma had quickly assimilated all that the two could teach.

Koika was standing up to spar with Ranma. This match was to show the holes in his defense when using two bokken instead of one or, in Ranma's preferred case, none.

Clack! Clack! Clack! The Dojo kept echoing with the sounds of the bokken striking each other. Then a sudden 'Thump' resounded. Ranma took a hit to the side of his stomach. It did not hurt him because of his natural defenses and endurance, in other words he was hit hard enough there enough times by others in his life, that a hit like that was a tap. However had it been a real blade…

The fighting continued and although they each scored hits on each other, Ranma was very disappointed. If a normal human could land hits, no wonder she was K.O.ed during that last fight. He needed lots of practice.

-

As Ranma entered the house he noticed a familiar aura approaching. That level of calm and tranquility was very hard to miss. It seemed that, while he and Koika were sparring, Jiko went off to escort Kasumi here. Ranma was too exhausted to notice the followers behind her.

After a quick cleaning in the furo he got ready to see Kasumi. Unfortunately, when he entered the guest meeting room, he saw all the Tendos minus Nabiki. He also noticed his Pack in the corner and realized Kasumi must have brought it with her, 'probably had one of the others carry it' he thought.

Just as he was sitting down and ignoring the glares, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Cologne were escorted in. Then a bound Happosai was dropped into the far corner by Aika. Everyone looked at her and she shrugged and simply said, "Family secret style. Perfect for the likes of him."

Ranma looked around him and muttered an apology to Fate too low for anyone to hear. He was wondering at this point how many Kami he'd pissed off. To him it was not a question of 'if' any more.

He asked kindly, "So what do I owe the honor of this visit, Kasumi?"

Before Kasumi could respond Genma responded, "We are here to ensure you do the honorable thing and marry Akane to join the schools." Soun just nodded repeatedly behind his friend.

Suddenly six distinct sounds of Katana being drawn was heard as said six Katana were surrounded Genma's neck. They were being held by Ranma's Great grandmother, grandmother, mother, and Koika; both Koika and Keiko were holding two Katana. Genma was too scared to so much as swallow. Eriko nodded to Ranma and said, "You were asking Ranma?"

He smiled and again asked kindly, "So what do I owe the honor of this visit Kasumi?"

Kasumi smiled and said, "I was concerned otoutochan, you have been gone for about a month."

Ranma replied, "I appreciate your concern, but I doubt I will marry Akane," he ignored the angry glare from said person, even though she was obviously trying to repress it, "so I don't think you should call me that, it wouldn't be right."

Kasumi smile, she said in her usual sweeter then honey way, "I have always seen you as my little brother Ranma, even if you don't marry Akane, I will always see you that way"

Ranma smiled, and replied, "Thanks, Onechan"

At this time all the Katana were removed from around Genma, except one, Nodoka's. It was enough to keep him quiet, as well as Soun.

"If you are going to live here, Ranchan, then I will have to move into the area as well. I missed you too much and regret what I said that day." Came from Ukyo. As she said it she went from a smile to a frown.

Ranma replied, "Don't look sad Ucchan, I don't blame anyone here for what happened on 'Murphy's day'."

When he said that everyone looked at him like he had three heads. He chuckled and explained, "Since that day was nothing but a long string of worst case scenarios, I decided to call it 'Murphy's day' because of 'Murphy's law'. After all, everything that could go wrong did go wrong that day, right?" That elicited a chuckle from everyone present.

Shampoo decided to speak up here since it seemed unlikely that anyone present would object. Besides, Ranma's family seemed a lot like the amazons. She said, in her cute as a butterfly way, "Ranma take Shampoo on date now?" Thwack!

Cologne pulled back her cane and ignored the look of indignation from her Great granddaughter. She apologized, "Sorry about that, I told her she could come if she kept quiet. However, we will also be moving the Nekohatten closer because of your move."

At this time there was a knock at the door. As Aika went to answer it Ranma knew that it would be Ami, the Kami were too cruel for it to be anyone else. That and he could read her aura.

When she entered, she was escorted to the table, and after she was introduced as another fiancée, the predictable happened, Akane materialized her Chi mallet, Ukyo decided she was on thin enough ice and sat still, Shampoo summoned her bonbori and Soun started into waterworks mode. 

Ranma was in motion and was between Akane and Shampoo before they could strike. He said, "That's enough, I will not put up with you girls fighting each other over me! I am a person, not a possession."

Before anyone could say anything more three cries of, "My son/grandson/great grandson is so manly!" Everyone could only stare.

Ukyo finally spoke, "No offence meant to anyone here but, Ranchan your family has manliness on the brain."

Everyone else could only nod.

Ranma then said, "Anyway, if I find out that any of you are fighting each other over possession of me, then whoever started it will no longer have their engagement recognized. I assume that Ukyo's and Ami's both specify 'the son of Genma Saotome' rather than Ranma Saotome?" A pair of nods followed so he continued, "And Akane and I are engaged to join the schools. However just one more stupid scheme from the 'Dopey Duo' and that engagement is off." When he said 'Dopey Duo' he gestured at Genma and Soun.

Any protests were prevented by the katana population of the room.

-

As Ami walked home she thought about the conversations and realized one thing that everyone else seemed to over look, the other fiancées seemed to prefer to dictate to Ranma everything, and nobody seemed to listen to him. If she just stayed his friend she would win his heart and his hunky hand.

She fantasized about the two of them as she walked, and tried to keep out of her mind the perverted thoughts that followed, but was not too successful. The one thing she seemed to have above all the others was patience. Both she and Ranma were immortal, it was all a matter of time, but that 'old ghoul,' as Ranma put it, kept smiling at her with the same smile that Pluto used in reference to the future. An 'I know something you want to know look'. That bothered her. She entered her house and proceeded to the kitchen to tell her mother about the evening.

-

It snarled as the portal closed behind it. It was the last of the group. It had a job to do. It nodded to the others as they scattered and disappeared. They were the bait and the trap. They would kill them this time, and then Earth was their Mistress'.

It skulked through the dark alleys with three others. It was the commander and these were just freshies. It knew only it would return. The three were Lostaru type fast scouts. It was a Nekovyn type winged warrior. The Lostaru were a genetic: Human, Lobster, and Kangaroo hybrid. The Mistress wanted something fast on land or in the water. But, unfortunately, they were not too bright.

It saw its reflection in a broken window as it came back on to the street near a Park. It had two black scaly wings and a black scaly tail. Its combat armor was scale mail taken from its own wings. Its regenerative abilities were good enough that it could 'de-scale' itself safely and its scales were strong enough that no 'modern technology' attacks could damage them. The Nekovyn were engineered as Human, Cat, and Dragon hybrids. Apparently the Mistress had found some samples of Dragon DNA somewhere, not that it mattered genetics was genetics and that was only part of the reason for her rank.

The Mistress engineered all her Minions to have a weakness. That way she could find the intelligent ones and ensure their survival, allowing the pathetic ones to die.

It took another glance at its female form, she was, as some humans would say, 'Mei no Kawaii' (darkly cute). She was about four feet tall and had a slender figure, except for the wings and tail she could be easily confused for a school girl. She also had almost unnoticeable 'cat' ears. At a distance they blended into her hair, but close up they were noticeable. Her armor was scale mail pants, loosely done so it did not hurt to walk nor interfered with any combat like activity. Her arms had black bracers that went from the wrists to her elbows. Her breastplate was a carbon fiber based material as strong as a diamond, and magically enhanced, and it was covered with scale mail as well. The actual plate part ran from her shoulders to mid stomach, the scale mail covered the breastplate and went down to her waist and overlapped a little with her pants. The breastplate was made all but invisible by the scale mail. The bracers were also made of the same material. Her feet were in low cut high heels of the same type of material.

They knew the target was in that park as they approached. Her long black hair was blowing behind her as she entered the park flanked by the lowly Lostaru. Her Mistress wanted humans for their spirit energy. Unfortunately, hybrids were not capable of generating the energy needed. Only a true human could, and the healthier the better. She pitied her sister for chasing that human around. He kept losing her. It was like he could disappear in water and leave only his cloths behind. Yes, humans were interesting. She would enjoy the close contact, and she always loved the way they screamed in Terror.

-

AN:  
"Death Song Wave" I wanted Siren to have a final attack that would have a relevant name. I know that the name starts with 'Death' and that appears to be Saturn's realm. But think of it this way, her other two attacks that we know of are: 'Silence Glaive Surprise' and 'Silence Wall' the theme to attacks she can survive is they start with 'Silence'. Let's not get too into the philosophy of 'Silence' having the meaning of death here. It is just not relevant to the actual attack name. The last word, 'Wave', was just part of her naming scheme. The reason for the middle word 'Song' is it simply was appropriate, after all in Greek mythology the song of the Siren led Sailors to their Death.

Another way of envisioning 'Death Song Wave' as being different from "Siren Shocking Wave" is to remember that 'Shocking Wave' is essentially a push in all directions. It would ring a bell but not damage it. 'Death Song Wave' if the same bell were in the same location be crushed flat by a shock wave of such extreme strength it would exceed inertial momentum, meaning simply that the bell as a whole can not be pushed out of the way fast enough and general inertia would hold the bell still long enough for the bell to be crushed. It is fatal to Siren because she is literally exploded by the attack. However like all Wave forms, the farther from the source the weaker the wave is at a greater a distance. Like music from a speaker. Thus although the attack was big enough to level a city core (about 10 square city blocks; also depends on the city. It terms of actual distance, the total destruction area would be about 2.5km radius), in order to ensure her attack found its intended victim; he (victim) had to be very close due to his (victim) strength.

Reviewer reply

Ranchan17 Thanks Phoenix, I am glad you are enjoying it. The groundwork chapters are almost done so you should soon be seeing more action and non-back story adding chapters coming.

Alex Ultra You are right there was not much to really discuss, chapter 8 will have a decent battle so look forward to it.

Slade3 I agree that that chapter was a bit weak, however unlike a chain; a story needs weak links to strengthen the story as a whole. Before Ranma can be a Proper Senshi he needs some stability in his life.

Gangsta Spanksta I was tempted to go back and insert the 'Watch ya go and do that for' but I decided against it. Ranma knew full well why they did it, plus he was a she for almost a full month, thus being female is not as offensive to him anymore.

You are right about cologne knowing about siren, however Cologne as this chapter points out is waiting until Ranma decides to tell her first before acting on such knowledge.

J. St.C. Patrick Thanks Patrick, without you prereading I would be in serious trouble.

dogbertcarroll CH1 Meh, it is the direction I happened to choose, besides I am a card caring member of the Ranma as a sailor Senshi fan site fukufics

CH2 Ya I am thinking of going back and doing a Side Story to cover how the fiancées reacted. Their initial reaction was out of shock. Besides Shampoo would be mad an after an hour would be begging her great grandmother for help.

CH3 Its not all his techniques that are blocked just soul of ice and the over confidence he uses for the Moko Takabashi

CH4 I could not resist that joke; I have another one liner like that coming between ami and Ranma but I am having a little trouble with the setup.

I just don't buy the NWC being useless. Kuno has come up with magical weapons in the past and Cologne surely knows of some. The only two people who regularly use Ki attacks are Ranma and Ryoga.

Heh ya that is a scene I wrote purely for the fun of it

CH5 Thanks

CH6 Shudder no I will say now that there will be no Soun or Happosai matchups, no way, no chance, no possibility in this fic. And no Kuno (either of them). It will be a legitimate fiancée.

CH7 The reason is to set power level expectations, so readers can understand how strong Ranma is in relation to the Senshi. You are right and wrong for Ranma's speed and strength, he is that strong and fast at the end of the Manga however this story deviates after Ranma meet his other the first time. He would still be very strong and fast but even in the manga we are never told exactly how fast or strong he is. Effectively her speed is doubled in his transformed state, and her strength is brought to about where his strength is. Unlikely, the Sailor Senshi are very resistant to physical damage. Ranma is designed to be a fighting machine but he has lost before, to go so far and say he is a 'fighting kami' though is a bit much. If you would feel better about it then think of it as a parallel universe where he is weaker.

CH8 I hope you keep an eye out there is more going on then you think. There will be another connection like those soon so keep your eye out.

Jerry Unipeg Ya, and then some.

Jason I fully intend to

Wonderbee31 Ya, to put it bluntly Ranma has had it with the forward demands of his fiancées so now he will finally put his toe down (he could never put his whole foot down).

Innortal Hahaha true, however 2 things this is a matriarchal society, thus there would be A Queen and a King but the King is subordinate to the Queen traditionally. (will not be the case with Ranma)

That grip is one of concentration and illusion, they are as cloudy as Nodoka, they just hide it well.

The building is important, but its importance will come later.

I have a Sailor Moon character reviewer who ensures that I will stay Cannon with them.

There are ways this can go, and as to the room mate thing I already gave the answer in a previous chapter.

Thanks

ranger5 There will be a good amount of family referencing I until they are familiar enough characters they can fade into the background.

Ami is intelligent remember and patient she can afford to wait, and as to the other two, we will have a bit of a pinky and the Brain thing going until they get board and give up.

I was hoping to have a scene in this chapter where we see them plan but between how long this chapter took anyway and the fact I just could not come up with an 'in character plan" I cut it out.

-

Mina: Hey Makoto what are we going to do tonight?  
Mako: Why the same thing we do every night; Try to steal Ranma from Ami! 


	10. C8 Corner

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, Cheb and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

-

Chapter 8 – Corner

-

Tatewaki Kuno was walking through a park on the outskirts of Nerima. He found a clearing and decided to practice the art he had already perfected, if one were to believe his delusions.

As he drew his weapon and began practicing, he realized that he was being watched. It did not bother him, as he was expecting it. He was, after all, Furinkan High's greatest kendo champion. He continued to practice without hesitation. Despite being a mere annoyance to Ranma, although he would never allow himself to realize that, he was a very skilled fighter.

He followed through a kata he loved the most, as it is his showiest. 

Tatewaki continued to practice, knowing that the threat approached, but it was not alone. He could feel more than one pair of eyes on him. He would be ready. 'The attack will come soon,' he thought. After a minute he knew the attack was upon him.

He turned to face his enemy and heard a battle cry as he moved to defend himself.

-

The Nekovyn warrior slid silently into the park. It was on the Minato border with the next ward. As she moved silently, she and her minions readied for the attack. Their target was a fighter, nowhere near the level of the Sailor Senshi. However, as he was a strong and healthy fighter, she knew he would be perfect for a draining of his life force.

She knew that this human was an excellent target and would feed the useless Lostaru with her, and that would draw out the enemy. She had the other Lostaru surround the park and hide their presence from those who could sense their powers. It was an easy task for her, She could hide her power. The Lostaru, however, simply had to be hungry and low on power to go undetected. Thus, when the three sacrifices behind her were feeding they would draw out the Sailor Senshi into an ambush, she would be ready.

She hid in a nearby tree and noticed that the human was practicing, and seemed to be taking care to watch everywhere. His style seemed more ceremonial then useful but he had some skills. 'It almost seemed like he noticed us, but a lowly and weak human like this one couldn't. Or could he?' she mused.

She remembered what happened to that baka Kirijaw the Rinell, who almost killed the Sailor Senshi recently. He dropped his guard for but a second after hitting that new Senshi into a wall. That mistake cost him his life. 

She would be careful. She knew that the Lostaru would all die. The only thing she liked about them was that, since they were clones, the Mistress did not care how many died. If they were worth saving then they would survive.

As she watched the Lostaru close on their prey the lead one screamed and lunged at the fighter. 'Too bad that little stick was not enough to help him,' she mused, 'or things would have been more interesting.'

-

As the fight progressed, Kuno was fighting with his all, but against his enemy it was not enough. After a quick fight he was down and out cold.

His enemy saw his condition and let out a chilling laugh, one that could even send chills down Ranma's spine.

"Hohohohohoho!" she laughed

She looked down at the defeated fighter and laughed again. He was weak like all her opponents, most of them anyway. Her rival was easily stronger then this baka.

She turned to leave, but she glanced back and called out, "Sasuke!"

The ninja appeared by the downed kendoka, and replied, "Yes, Mistress."

She smiled, not a good smile however, and said, "When you drag my insane brother home, be sure to do it painfully." She then laughed as she danced off leaving a mess of rose pedals in her wake.

Sasuke looked to the sky and wondered what he was in his past life to deserve this one. 'Probably a warlord or some other form of evil, or worse yet a Kuno,' he mused. He shuddered at that possibility and dragged his fallen master home by the feet.

-

The fighter was easily taken down by the three Lostaru and, as they sucked out his life force, she knew that the Sailor Senshi would be here soon. If the other Lostaru were doing their jobs each should have a hostage, or is that a snack of energy for when their true targets arrive?

-

The Sailor Senshi who had sensed the evil presence in the distance, namely: Usagi, Rei, and Ranma, notified the others and took off towards the source of the dark force.

This attack was well outside their usual fighting area and as such they had a long way to go. The enemy was almost in the capital ward of greater Tokyo, but still in Minato. Siren remembered that Nerima ward was directly ahead. If they had passed the park and kept going, Nerima was two wards away.

While traveling, Mercury told the others that she identified that whoever was behind these attacks were not using Youma, as she previously thought. While the energy they were powered by was similar, it was not the same. Given that all of their enemies, this time, seemed to be genetically derived from creatures indigenous to the Earth, she recommended referring to them as 'Kimera'.

As they approached, they stopped and Mercury scanned the area. She could only detect three Kimera, and they appeared to be the 'Lobster-Kangaroo' type. Siren, Jupiter and Uranus wanted to go in powers blazing and deal with these threats. However, Neptune, Pluto and Mercury felt that something was wrong with this attack. The enemy was too weak. Moon agreed with this assessment and sent Tuxedo Kamen, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune back in case this was a diversion. Mercury had also pointed out a possible trap. However, her computer could not detect anything. Siren, on the other hand, said she had a few weak signals she wanted to check out.

Mercury, Venus, Moon, and Neptune proceeded to their target, Uranus was ordered to watch their backs as Siren went off, following the weak signals she was getting.

-

The fight started, and it was over fairly quickly, as the Senshi had become good at dealing with these weaklings. But that is when they got a frantic call from Siren.

Over their communicators, they suddenly heard Siren shout, "Look out! We're surrounded! It's a trap!" Normally, Ranma was cool in a fight. This was mostly due to 'his' confidence. However, as Ranma's confidence is kept in check by 'her' Senshi powers she was a touch spooked and concerned about this trap. Sailor Siren was not scared, just not going to take a chance.

The Sailor Senshi suddenly heard an explosion; they quickly localized it to the edge of the park in a small office building. They saw a 'Breaking Wave' blow out of a building and tear apart one of the Kimera. Then Siren jumped out of the building and charged to the Senshi's position as Mercury was using her computer. The 'Lobster-Kangaroo' Kimera were everywhere, and getting stronger. There were 36 in total, and they seemed determined to not line up for Siren. After the 'snack,' each of the Kimera were fast enough that they would be a problem. The Senshi that had been sent back were recalled and Uranus joined the others.

They formed a circle, Moon, Saturn with the Silence Glaive, Neptune, Uranus with the Space Sword, Mercury, and Siren with 'Triple Threat' in dual katana form. Given the proximity of the others, Siren stored 'Triple Threat' and attacked with Pulsing Waves. The others were using their best moves and, unfortunately, they were only tiring out. Siren saw the others returning but they were surrounded as well. Thus far only six Kimera had been killed and the Senshi were unsure if they could keep this pace up. Most of their attacks missed and the only reason the six were destroyed was due more to luck and suppression fire than anything else.

Siren knew that Pulsing Wave was the weakest attack here and decided to risk an experiment for this little problem. She called out, "Amaguriken no Pulsing Wave," and her hands blurred as hundreds of small shockwaves flew in a wide arc. After the attack, there were only fourteen Kimera left, who seemed to pause in fear long enough for another seven to be taken out before they realized what happened. There were only seven Kimera left and, with the odds shifted, the Sailor Senshi were quick to eliminate the remainder.

Unfortunately, the attack that Siren used was too taxing, and she fainted from magical overexertion. Mercury watched over her while the fight was finished. The Senshi were just about to celebrate their victory when they heard slow clapping.

They all turned and saw someone jump out of a tree. Siren was still out cold and being held up by Mercury and Venus. They noticed that the newcomer looked human enough, except for the wings and tail, but as she got closer they saw the ears. 

The Sailor Senshi heard her as she calmly spoke, "As was to be expected, I did not think that those pathetic Lostaru would have beaten you. However, you are weakened from your fight and now must face me. I am Ryuuko, a Nekovyn type winged warrior. I was sent by my mistress to kill you." With that, she fired several dark energy blasts at the exhausted warriors. Saturn got a 'Silence Wall' up in time to stop them. Moon managed to fire off an attack quickly followed by Mars, Venus, Neptune, and Uranus. Ryuuko dodged all the attacks as the Senshi kept firing, until Moon scored a direct hit with a spiral heart attack.

Everyone gaped as Ryuuko got back up. It hurt her, but she was definitely not dead. No, she was pissed. She charged again with reckless abandon and took several other direct hits from multiple attacks. After she took a lot of damage, she suddenly realized that fighting like this would lead to her death. She was not like Kirijaw, she would not be stupid and die so easily, so she jumped backwards and teleported away in what can only be described as a flash of darkness.

-

They decided to use their Sailor Teleport to get home since it was safer in their current condition. Pluto returned from the time gate and after hearing about what happened they decided to look into some sort of communication equipment for the time gate. Siren awoke an hour later at the Shrine, Haruka, Setsuna, Michiru, and Hotaru had left already. After they decided to meet in the morning they all went home for the night.

-

The next day at the shrine the meeting went much in the way it was expected to go. Meaning it opened with Ranma being mildly chastised for using such a reckless attack. True, it turned the tide, but it left Siren out cold for the remainder of the fight.

After that and the usual patterns for the meeting, it came time for training. Minako, Makoto, and Haruka had the least trouble with the training. Usagi, Ami, and Hotaru had the most. Setsuna, as usual, was nowhere to be found. 

After the training, Ranma explained what Ki was and demonstrated it with a Moko Takabisha. This lead to an argument over its usefulness. After all, the Sailor Senshi already had energy attacks.

Ranma had decided to show more of its uses. After a few quick demonstrations which included: the Iron Cloth technique which he had seen enough times to learn, the Bakusai Tenketsu which again he had seen enough to know, along with an explanation of the Hiryu Shoten Ha, they were still doubtful, and Ami seemed annoyed for some reason.

The final demonstration of the day was a modification of an old trick, tight rope walking, or, in this case: tight string walking. There were a pair of short posts about a dozen feet apart with four parallel pieces of string running parallel between them. They were tied around the bases of the foot high posts, and then they ran up the far side of the post and into a groove that held the string horizontally stable and aimed at the opposite post.

Ranma hopped on the first post and calmly walked across. He made sure to always have a single foot on all four strings at each moment. He was currently using the 'Iron Cloth' technique to help the strings hold his weight, he even had to 'enhance' the posts, but to do so required constant contact or else the strings and/or the posts would break. He picked up this technique while practicing the Iron Cloth on Siren. He fell many times learning how not to break the string.

Ranma made it across, turned to bow, then laughed as Haruka tried and broke the strings on contact. He then asked, "Any questions now on the use of Ki?"

Ami replied to this with an annoyed growl, "Ranma! Will you please quit defiling the laws of physics? At least use magic if you are going to do something like that." 

Ami was a scholar and scientist. She used the Mercury computer and could understand magic even though her science denied it was possible. However, in a case like this, she did not understand how this energy could be manipulated like it was. She just assumed during the fight against Haruka that Ranma used her own magic against her. True in some senses. However, in this case, it was more obvious that there was something that Ami did not have nearly enough information about. 

Thus, her outburst. She was so into the idea that she had all the answers and understanding that, in a position of lacking the necessary information, she was unable to bring her intellect to bear. This was also, in part, to blame on her computer. Previously most of what she needed to know came from it, back during the Silver Millennium there were no Ki adapt warriors in the kingdom. Back then every warrior that reached a certain level was taught magic as well; in fact most fighter knew at least a simple healing spell, it may not have been a strong spell or able to cure major damage, but it was able to close small wounds.

Also, since the time Ranma showed up, her behavior changed a little, she became infected with 'Ranma's Fiancée Syndrome,' which meant whenever Ranma proved he was better in some regards to one of his fiancées, albeit unintentionally, they would get needlessly and overly jealous. Also, when ever nobody was looking, she would have perverted thoughts about him. Fortunately for Ranma, she was not possessive …yet.

After Ami was convinced that this was a valid and probably necessary form of training, she relented and remembered that soon she would learn how to do this. Thus, she could understand the underlying science behind it. The team decided to meet that evening to have a plan and develop some more methods to more effectively eliminate the Kimera.

-

Ranma was still learning the "basics" of the twin katana style. He had gotten back about two hours ago, and was in the dojo training. He learned more about the style, in that the twin katana portion was primarily used for defense and the double katana was used for offense.

He was in boy type at the moment, having undergone four gender changes in the last two hours.

The kata he was learning was still a 'basic' one. However, he had yet to do it to his cousin's satisfaction. He thought to himself, 'And people call me a slave driver'

He continued practicing and after a while, he was getting tired of it. However, he knew full well the need for it. He called for a break after another hour to break the rhythm and get a drink.

After his break it took him another hour and a half for his cousin to let him go on to the next form

He continued practicing, and his mind went to recent events. He kept thinking about Jusenkyo and Pluto not being the cause of it. She did not know soon enough to cause it, or did she? The more he thought about temporal mechanics the more his head hurt. Earlier Pluto had confided in him that sometimes she tried not to think about it either for similar reasons. However, she still needed to think about it most of the time. Ranma found that ironic. She had the power over time, yet she could not find the time to enjoy not thinking about time.

Ranma also reflected on Sailor Siren and what 'She' represented, and what 'Her' powers were. Sailor Siren was the Senshi of art and balance, but her powers were over waveforms. Technically 'she' was not really the Senshi of balance, but rather waves. However the 'waves' are a method nature uses to achieve balance. 

As he continued, he thought about what he knew of the others attacks. Saturn effectively had two attacks plus her trump, an offensive and a defensive plus mass destruction. Pluto had one effective attack plus her trump, an offensive and a time stop. She, Siren, had four, originally three plus her trump, two offensive attacks, three now, a defensive, and area destruction. 

However, all the others except Moon, Venus, and Mercury seemed to only have a single offensive attack. Venus had two, Mercury had a defensive as well. However, Moon seemed to have more. She knew first hand that there were two offensive attacks, plus her trump, and she also could heal. Saturn could heal as well, but her healing was a ki thing so he did not count it. Ranma's knowledge was at the moment limited, as he had only seen the Senshi in battle twice.

He finished practicing and decided to see if he could not only teach them his fighting art, but also try and figure out how to help them with their magic as well.

-

They had finished the kata an hour ago, and after a break, Ranma and Jiko were sparring

They had just finished a quick round where Jiko had pointed holes in Ranma's defense. Last round Ranma tried the Amaguriken; Jiko defeated it easily with a pair of precision strikes. Jiko hit one pressure point on each or Ranma's arms at the shoulder, causing a temporary disabling of Ranma's arms. After that, Ranma reflected on his defeat, although Jiko called it sulking. He was realizing that he was relying far too much on some things, like his speed, and ignoring his accuracy. If he wanted to even nail a single spot using the Amaguriken, then he could only use a single hand.

They were set up for the next round.

Then they started at once. Ranma opened with an over the shoulder strike against Jiko's left shoulder. He was rewarded with a block then a hit on his left side, followed up by a wrist strike against his right wrist, causing him to drop the bokken. Then both of her bokken were against his neck. His mistake had been forgetting about his left bokken, and his cousin was as demanding as he was about fixing a fault.

The next round went better. Jiko opened with a left spin, left strike, against Ranma's shoulder, which Ranma blocked. Then, he blocked her follow up right strike against his back. He had to spin right to face her as he blocked her twin shoulder blade strike from behind. He blocked her right bokken with his right and the left missed cleanly as he went for a stomach strike with his left in reverse position. However, what Ranma did not expect was for her to spin to the left and around the stomach strike and then knock the bokken forward, increasing its momentum. Forcing him to turn away, she got behind him. He tried to fight the spin but it cost him as she nailed him squarely three times in the shoulder, back and left knee.

He knew that in his past life, 'she' developed the style. The spinning when Ranma was learning the style seemed designed for appearance, and it bothered him a little. When he was in Senshi form he felt it was to give a, 'Look at me, I am pretty' impression. In other words he thought, at first, it was to distract the opponent, and not actually be useful as a form. Now he understood what she was thinking in his past life. The spins were to focus momentum and compensate for the momentum lost from not recoiling with the opposite hand.

They had one more round before breaking and heading in for dinner. This time, Ranma won. He fooled her by using an extra half spin and nailed her back. He was so used to using his special techniques and ki augmentation that when he practiced without it against Jiko, he felt ashamed as he had let his style rust. 

-

Dinner was a short event. Most of the family either ate very little or, like Ranma, ate like a black hole. All three cousins were like that. Right after dinner, Ranma was about to leave when his grandmother handed him a cell phone. She told him that it was, 'So that he could keep in touch.' He interpreted it to mean, 'If you need to fight late, let us know.'

After he left she rounded up her mother and daughter and said, "I gave him the phone." All three smirked.

Eriko then said, "Alright, we will call him in two hours. The meeting should be over then."

-

It was well after dinner and the Sailor Senshi were sitting around a table planning their newest strategies. After they did their 'Senshi Business' the meeting degraded into their customary actions, primarily Usagi and Rei fought over Manga, and Makoto and Minako discussed their latest plan to steal Ranma. Ranma sat next to Pluto in girl type. 

Mamoru glared at Ranma for abandoning him to the join the other side, he had some reason to be mad at Ranma, and it was more like being annoyed. Put yourself in his position. He thought he finally had another male Senshi he could talk guy stuff to, but when the meeting time came, Ranma came as a girl. 

Ranma acted oblivious to what went on around him and looked like she was thinking of something; actually he was planning on dodging his newest admirers. Ami was still trying to get the Mercury computer to give her answers. Her thoughts ran somewhere along the lines of, 'I am the smartest person here, I will figure out how Ki works!' Pluto watched events play out. She was not without a sense of humor; she just usually knew the punch line before the joke was told. Thus, she could laugh herself silly at the gates, and look level headed in front of the girls. 

Even still, when Ranma's phone rang, her Ki signature shifted slightly, just enough to make Ranma a little nervous.

The Senshi all listened to the conversation, the one side they could hear.

"Hello."

"Mother, is something wrong?"

"That's good, anyway did you need something?"

"Huh, training? What kind of training?"

"What!" she shrieked

"No! No way." she stated outright refusing what ever was being told

"Huh, Grandmother? What No! Not you too!" Ranma was sounding a little startled; crazy was expected from her mother, but from her grandmother?

"Great Grandmother! Mom! No!" Now Ranma was sounding scared and paranoid. Ranma knew that she would not win.

"I don't need 'Girl Training' I am a guy!" She demanded. Mamoru, Haruka and Artemis lost composure and fell over laughing while being swatted by their significant others, who, like the remainder, were suppressing their giggles.

"But!" She suddenly sounded cornered

"You what!" Now she definitely sounded pissed, more then a few wanted to hear the other side of this. From the mood swings it sounded like PMS, which ironically did account for part of it.

"How could you enroll me into school as a girl?" She demanded. This elicited some snickers.

"That makes sense I suppose. But I still don't like it."

Silence lasted for nearly three minutes then finally Ranma screamed, "What?" so loudly it drew Rei's grandfather. He had known about the curse and the Senshi of course. Normally he would not look in the room. However, this needed investigating. 

He opened the door with a startled look on his face and saw Setsuna do a shush motion. From his position he could not see the cell phone.

Ranma screamed again, "What do you mean I gotta go through 'Princess' Training!"

Grandfather Hino simply closed the door and vowed to himself to never look in again on one of their meetings.

After a few more minutes of Ranma saying "No!" the conversation came to an abrupt end. 

Ranma was very upset at this point and she replied back to something said, "I still don't…" She was apparently cut off by something

"Her eyes went as wide as saucers. She whimpered out, "But…" again being cut off.

Then she stated forcefully, "Of course I am!"

There was a short pause than… suddenly she stammered, "But, but, but…" This time she was cut off by a dial tone. She realized that the entire conversation was planned. She looked angrily at the phone and said to herself, "What is manly about 'Princess' Training?"

After that was said everyone was on the floor laughing except her.

-

The door to the old shed opened slowly as the intruder to the peaceful grounds glided out. She closed the door behind her with a silent creak. She walked up to the back door silently, without making any obvious noise. At first glance she looked like a harmless schoolgirl, except for her slightly unusual clothing of course. It was a dress but it had an unusual style to them, it almost looked like it was designed for fighting as much as dancing.

She slowly walked towards the back door, not making any sudden movements. As she reached her destination she was about to touch the door, her hand in a fist, when it suddenly glided open. The girl who stood in the doorway looked on in shock at the girl in front of her. She quickly recovered and spoke two words very emphatically.

"Deki-chan!"

-

Author's Note

First 'Princess Training' – I am either serious or they were joking and wanted to make him accept girl training easier.

Second 'Girl Training' – Ranma is now comfortable in girl form; however Ranma does not know how to socially be a girl. Girl Training will let him understand what being female means to people around him. This will not be a Ranma is a Girl fic, however I was planning this way back when I said that he could 'Lock' himself as a girl.

As to Kimera vs Chimera I am using the pronunciation because it is how the Japanese would write it, however for the fic it is pronounced Kim-er-a instead of K-i-mer-a. (Think Himera as in Kenshin)

This will be the last chapter for a time, I WILL return to this fic and do fully intend on continuing it. I thank all my prereaders very much in what they helped me with this far. I have also will have fixed some of the prior chapter's spelling errors at the time of this posting.

The reason for the break is to start one or two other fics, which may not get very far. This was my first fic and I thank everyone who helped thus far with improving my writing, I still have far to go but hopefully I will continue to improve.

A prereader noted that unlike some of the other names for the kimeraian creatures, Lostaru does not well match with the scheme, I choose it since the alternatives were lobsteroo and Kangaster. I liked Lostaru much better but here is how I derived it. LObSTer kangARU (Kangaru is the Japanese spelling of kangaroo) then I changed the oo into a 'u'. I originally was going to type it as Lobstaru but I felt that Lostaru sounded better. Technically I could have gone Ebiaru (deriving from the Japanese word Ebi which means lobster.)

Another point of questions is between twin bokken and double bokken, twin or two bokken is simply a pair of bokken, a double bokken is like 'Triple threat's' third form, two katana connected by the butt of their handles.

-

Reviewer Reply

Slade3

Thanks, i enjoy writing this as well, and thanks for your thoughts on Pluto and Saturn, however it can still be dabated but i won't argue.

Cheb

To paraphrase a line from the movie Armageddon: "American proverb, Russian proverb, what difference does it make, all made in Taiwan" and by that i mean does it really matter where they came from. Proverbs are useful but they have been resaid and retranslated and reinvented to truly know the source.  
But remember this is Ranma so he is bound to err occasionally, if it were Ami I would have gone back and fixed it.

Alathon I am glad you like it.  
As far as Akane goes; in pure Ranma fics she is equal to Ukyo IMO. And yes she is worse in this one, that was intentional because Cannon Ranma was close to Akane, i needed to break them up. The addition of the new fiancees was origionally meant to just be a get Ranma out of Nerima engine, however as you saw with Ami i had other thoughts later. Akane, IMO, was always the type, like Ranma, to not admit her feelings or to cover them up well, hence Cannon Ranma and Akane's relationship.

I disagree about being abrupt, Ranma was, in cannon, accepting his true condition, however a few months relaxing in 'Girl form' made it easier to accept in the long run. Siren was, mostly, a postitve experiance for him (her), as such he is more likely at the end to not mind the situtation.

This being my first fic I wanted Ranma to have a unique and totally 'Ranma' Sailor Senshi form and abilities.

Thank you for the humor obversation, this fic is intended to be written in the same style I find both Sailor Moon and Ranma are written in. and that is Humor over a core of seriousness, with a core of a devoloping 'love story'. However I find myself just spouting off these scenes and writing them into the story. such as this chapter's 'Princess Training' was thought up min way through writing Chapter 3.

Sorry bout the Typo's but when I started I had no pre-readers, I hope it is getting better, i have also fixed prior errors, such as the infamous Nermia goof.

I agree about Nabiki, like Akane though I wanted to just use that mechanic to add more strain to Ranma.

I have Read fan translations of the Manga and watched the episodes of the Anime, from what i can tell when she is introduced she hides it well, but I do believe that she was/is a few blades short of a samurai (really sorry about that pun btw a traditional samurai carried three blades as apposed to her one). Nodoka was very emotional and i once read it put the best as her being said to being on permanent PMS, in the Manga she kept swinging between treating Ranam (even after finding out about the curse) as her little child, I mean the ways she fussed over him was like a mother looking after her 6 year old, and times when she treated him like an adult. She even could go between calm and hapy to being seriously pissed, once she nearly cleaved Ranma in half without knowing it was him.

Ami will pick up a little of Akane's behavior as i stated above, but you are reading a little deeper into it then you should, as far as she is thinking is the same level the average Ranma's fiancee would.

There will be more 'Siren's Calling' after a short Haitus

Gangsta Spanksta Ami seems to me to be the one to berate herself in private rather then in public, ne?

Your perceptions on Nabs Soun Kasumi and nodoka are right on target, but at this point i think the final matching is reviled.

Alex Ultra More will come after my next fic

law-kun Thanks! I wanted my story to be unique, way too many Kami ranma fics out there.

I wish a few of my scenes were longer, but the story must continue

mc2rpg True but remember he was also just caught with, if you pardon the pun, his pants down as well. He was caught hiding his true gender and remember that scene where he saw the guy get 'captured'

dogbertcarroll Yes Ami will be patient however this will not be a mutiple matchup, not even in the sense of someone marries him now and she will later, she simply knows that 200 years from now neither she nor Ranma will be much older in the bio sense so her 'Bio' clock is in no danger of running out any time soon, thus she can wait as long as she wants.

Lerris Sorry for the legnth, but i try to keep most of the chapters even, btw ty for the fix, i have posted the correction

Jerry Unipeg Thanks! btw you do not know the half of it.

Innortal The marrage agreement will not be bumped off to anyone else, i have said why above, but bluntly Ranma does not trust nabs and sees 'sumi as a sister.

"However the family training does set up a nice fight scene possibility for Ranma with Tatewaki."

I will make an evil not of that.

"I also look forward to more detail about Akaji and his relation to Ranma's past self. Good luck."

that will be in the future, but how far?

The Nameless Author Thanks!

"BUT and i do say BUT please DON'T make this a Ranma + multiple girls story."

This will be a single pairing, don't worry. On Siren, as is my understanding, it would be more like scheduled turns each night, thus you would be right.

Wonderbee31 Your observations on the girls is correct, and on the risk of spoiling (this should not be if you read Chapter 4) happosai and Cologne are going to be serious about training Ranma and keeping to his good side (but both will stay much IC) 


	11. C9 Confidence

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 9 – Confidence

* * *

Ranma was headed to the dojo to kata out her frustrations after coming to some realizations about the conversation that ended almost an hour and a half ago. She was steered. They knew her buttons and pressed them very well. She had a short argument later with her mother. Ranma was trying to come up with some form of proper retaliation against her manipulators, but was drawing up blanks, she had no ideas yet.

Her mother had already purchased the uniform and Ranma was unhappily in it at the moment. She decided that if she had to wear the accursed thing she would learn how to fight in it. She tried not to grin at the possibility of it being damaged beyond repair by a Youma attack. 'Now that would be satisfying,' she thought to herself.

She opened the back door and saw someone standing there. Her first instinct was that it was 'a sneak attack' when she had seen the fist, then she noticed the startled, but very familiar face. Her own face brightened as she cheerfully chirped, "Deki-chan!"

Dekiko took a moment to compose herself before she had replied in kind, "Ran-chan!"

Ranma spoke happily, "How'd ya get here? I didn't think you were coming. Hows things on Siren?"

Dekiko replied with a smile, "There is a portal between the temple and your lot, apparently. It was tied to you so when you powered up it activated. Nobody noticed it or realized what it was for until now. Things are pretty normal on Siren; however rumors have shot across the moon at your return. I know you tried to keep as few people in the loop as possible, however a few too many people saw Sailor Siren and knew who you were in the Silver Millennium. You were remembered more than we thought."

Ranma asked, "Where's the portal?" And Dekiko pointed at the old shed. At which Ranma chuckled and shook her head.

Ranma then proceeded to escort Dekiko inside to meet her family, and find a room for her.

* * *

Two hours before Dekiko arrived, Ranma had been in the library with her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. They were sitting around a round table with a tray of tea in the middle. Eriko had insisted that Ranma be in feminine form for this talk. Ranma was not too happy, that phone call was a cowardly way to tell her that she had to undergo that training. However she had the definite feeling she was being steered. It was very unlike his mother to come up with an idea this ludicrous, actually she would do this but only if she had an ulterior motive. 

Ranma decided to play along; after all she did know how to act like a girl. She even wore dresses in public occasionally. However as much as she knew her mother, which was not too well, she did not know her other family well enough. She did know that they were like a more mature version of her mother, however that was not help beyond further hints of her being trapped.

Ranma was raised on the road with a person who felt that acting without thinking was happiness. Thus this particular attribute was engrained into Ranma. Added to the Saotome style of making your opponent so mad that they lose all style, also known as 'Saotome foot in the mouth disease,' Ranma had the tendency to come off as an unthinking, loud mouth jock. This was very un-feminine.

Ranma remembered the conversation that followed the phone call back at the meeting. After everyone stopped laughing the other girls apologized but explained that it was just the absurdity of the situation that incited the laughing. Usagi offered to undergo the princess training with her, but when Rei made a comment about needing to learn to act like a girl, and Haruka snickered at that statement, Ranma asked for them to give her tomboy lessons. In the end everyone was laughing and teasing each other; except for the cats, Mamoru, and the suspiciously suddenly absent Setsuna.

After that Ami had suggested ways to get out of the training or at least get the training into a form that Ranma would be able to tolerate. The main point she had that Ranma remembered was spending all that time on Siren, she had acted as a socially acceptable girl there.

Ranma focused on the meeting now happening. Everyone had taken a sip of tea and was preparing for the dance that was about to happen.

Keiko started what promised to be a long talk, "Ranma, I am sure you are not happy with the way we notified of your coming training." A glare was her only answer. "I only ask you to believe that we have your best interest in mind."

Ranma continued glaring at his grandmother. Eriko then continued for her daughter, "I am sorry that you feel you will suffer unnecessary hardship by this Ranma, but we need you to be ready for what is to come." The glare moved to her but had softened a bit. "Do you feel that you are ready as you are now to rule Siren?"

Ranma's glare slowly stopped until she sighed and replied a soft and reluctant, "No."

Eriko was worried about her granddaughter fumbling her line; however, she was relieved when Nodoka didn't. Nodoka spoke next, "Now Ranma do you think that the people of Siren will accept a male ruler or will they only accept a female one, even if she is male part time."

Ranma thought for a moment, she nearly said that they would accept her regardless, as her old Silver Millennium memories informed her. However, since the decline of access to guys, the mostly female population would likely reject the idea of a male leader now. Obviously, once travel becomes more common they might change, but at the moment her mother was right. Ranma had to give her mother a negative head shake.

Keiko continued pressing the argument, "You see Ranma, even you must admit to the fact that your people need and want a princess right now, not a prince. So you will need to learn to act the part, or am I wrong?"

Ranma then realized something important and spoke up, "But I won't even be ruling any time soon, they don't need me anyway."

Eriko countered, "How could you know that, you were there only three months, do you really know what is happening there in their government?"

Nodoka interjected, "If you weren't needed then you would not be Sailor Siren, you would just be my manly son."

Everyone ignored the manly part, but the elders made a mental note that this would have to be addressed. If she kept pushing him to be manly she could do untold damage to Ranma, and, by proxy, Siren. Ranma may have been the rightful ruler but they were the royal family, they had to lookout for their people's best interest. He could be manly later; right now he needed to be properly focused.

It was time for the end to this little dance, everyone knew this, however, only Ranma did not know the steps to follow.

Eriko began finishing this discussion after everyone took a sip of tea. "Ranma you may not need that particular training now, however, later you will. We shall see how things progress. In the mean time let us talk about your girl training."

Ranma was ready for this part, the princess training she had no decent defense, but girl training she was ready, she was prepared, she was sure she could sneak out of it. She interrupted, "I do not need girl training, I know how to act properly as a girl in public. I have done so in the past." She was very careful here to avoid improper speech which would be used against her.

Then her mother gushed, "Excellent, than you will not mind attending school as a girl, in proper uniform of course." She signaled to the others '_hook_.'

The indignant reply came, "I do not need a uniform, why should I have to attend school as a girl"

Keiko answered, "All nice girls wear uniforms, or are you saying you need to be properly trained, bridal training perhaps?" She followed with a subtle signal '_line._'

Ranma blanched and made an, 'urk'-like sound

Eriko finished it with, "Wonderful, then you agree with the uniform, as to attending in girl form, you told us that you can lock yourself as girl right?" Without waiting for the confirmation she continued, "Well unlike your last school you can avoid perverted boys switching your gender in the locker room." Final signal was made '_sinker._'

Despite having to go to school as a girl in a uniform that scored little better then her sailor fuku, actually since the sailor fuku had a leotard it gained bonus points for better hiding of underwear, but as the school uniform had a longer skirt, Ranma decided he came out ahead. No girl training or any obvious advanced classes of the type. Ranma simply nodded.

Everyone drank their tea and after a few minutes went their separate ways. It took almost until Dekiko arrived for Ranma to realize that the entire discussion was staged.

* * *

A few minutes before Ranma opened the door and saw Dekiko, Nodoka was reminiscing about how she got Ranma into that girl's uniform. Although she wouldn't dare say it, the reason she gave her approval to this stupid 'go to school as a girl' idea of her grandmother's was the fact the Ranma was still a guy under her skin, and it was very manly to sneak into a girl's locker room.

The whole setup, including the girl training and princess training, was mostly a ruse, well the girl training anyways. She smiled as she knew her son was very headstrong and determined. He hid his obvious intelligence well. If she paid any less attention than she did now, as she had in the past, she would have missed it. Ranma was obviously very focused on what his intelligence was used for. She heard the stories of his various challenges, and how he eventually over came them. But when she looked at him when he was tense, she realized that the constant pressure only causes problems in the long run. He would bury his potential when he was nervous or bored.

Her grandmother was right. Since Ranma let it slip that he could lock himself in girl form, but not guy form, he could in all essence attend school without the threat of an accident. Without that stress of humiliation he could relax, and by going to a different school nobody should recognize him. With no distractions he should be able to get decent marks, perhaps even impress that smart girl, Ami. Her mind slipped into grandchild land for a moment.

She sighed as she remembered the reason for the call. Ultimately it was because of his headstrong personality. They, her mother, grandmother and herself, knew that he was able to function socially as a girl; they had seen it themselves. No, the reason they brought up girl training and princess training was that they wanted him to attend school as a girl in the proper uniform. Both were, by definition, not very Ranma-like. So they needed grounds for negotiation. He probably would accept girl training, but princess training would be the limit.

In the end they traded: giving up on princess training for going to school as a girl; and the girl training for the uniform. He was stubborn about the uniform, not as much as she expected, but that was mostly because of why he hated girl clothing; he hated girl's clothes because of what happened when he transformed. Since that was not a problem anymore he more easily accepted.

Now for the last part of her plan… grandchildren, she had again drifted off to that fantasy of Ranma being manly and getting her some grandchildren to spoil.

As she sat there with that silly grin on her face her grandmother walked by shaking her head, her grandmother remembered that particular grin on her daughter's face as well.

* * *

Ranma led Dekiko into the guest reception room. After the rest of the family was rounded up Ranma made the introductions.

After the introductions were made, Ranma, still in girl form, glared at the giggling Dekiko. Ranma asked, "What's so funny Deki-chan?"

After she regained her composure, Dekiko answered, "I was just imagining what they had to do to get you in that skirt." Everyone but Ranma giggled; Ranma tried to look as annoyed as she could, unfortunately it came off as a cute pout, which only seemed to help increase the giggles.

After everyone composed themselves, Dekiko filled Ranma and her family in on the current events on Siren. Although it had only been three days since Ranma left, to those on Siren it had been almost two weeks. "Word of your resurrection and subsequent awakening has reached the populace. There have been mixed reactions. Most feel that it is simply a rumor, others feel that it is a government cover-up. Only Senna and I know the truth, though. However, you were seen and identified before you left. Nobody reacted until you left. The temple grounds are beyond government control, however the government does know that you came back and lived at the temple for a time."

Ranma asked Dekiko, "How, did someone tip them off?"

"Senna did, this was before you arrived." Dekiko answered, "She tried to get the government ready for your arrival but she meet heavy resistance. I am afraid that the government is a bit corrupted and not willing to return control to you. You may have to return and show everyone you are back and take control."

Ranma inquired, "Why do I have to 'take control?' Wouldn't it be better for the people to be self-governed?"

"Being a Sailor Senshi is more than being a monarch and warrior. In fact the people would be mostly self-governed and have representation. You would have the power to override the normal processes but when you take control the traditional thing to do is simply add a level to the current level. Most people would prefer for you to return anyway. Right now there is not much to worry about, however we will have to do something some time soon, even if it is only as much as you appearing briefly and telling the people to go on with their lives for now."

"I never asked for this. Why does it have to be me? I am a warrior, not a princess."

"No, you did not, but you have to be both. It is your responsibility, it is your duty, and it is your destiny."

"Why not just let things settle for now? I can go back later, when we rebuild the moon kingdom." Although Ranma had not yet been told about Crystal Tokyo and the great ice, rebuilding the moon kingdom is ingrained into every Sailor Senshi. Even though most of them could not put it into words until Pluto did, Ranma had more time for the Silver Millennium memories to return by comparison.

"The people will not wait. Eventually, and soon, this will have to be addressed. Remember too the time differential. Until Siren and the Earth are in sync again it will be a problem. We can have you make an appearance, just saying that Senna, or someone else will speak for you and I can act as a medium for that person. But you will have to make that appearance. And rebuilding the government will be a must. As it stands Siren needs unification. It is on the brink of another war, and I fear it is because you appeared and have not taken control. Some people, religious leaders to be specific, feel that because you are awake again and have not taken control of Siren as a whole, that you have abandoned Siren, that Siren has become corrupt. They may inadvertently start an all out war between the provinces."

Everyone sat quietly listening to what was said, until Ranma asked meekly, "I saw none of what you were describing when I was there. So where is this happening, and why didn't I see any of it?"

"Because the temple is neutral ground. It is the place where you ruled in the Silver millennium. It is your palace, now a temple to you."

Ranma was speechless, and she looked it, she had paled at the implications. Her great grandmother was the first to regain her ability to speak after all that was said. She spoke with a note of pride in her voice, "So my great grandchild will simply have to go there and get things straightened out. The need is too great to stand back and let people die when a simple appearance will do." To this Ranma only nodded, nothing else needed to be said.

* * *

Ranma was in the dojo with his cousin. This time he was learning the double bokken. This training was easier than the twin bokken training, since a double bokken was a lot like a Bo staff. However there were a lot of differences. First she could not hold the bokken anywhere but the handle, well she could, but that would not be safe in normal combat with a double katana. However the style was again in a circle or spiral for most of the techniques.

About a month before Ranma was taken to Siren, Kuno had attacked him. Ranma had been in a bad mood at the time, when Kuno swung the bokken, at Ranma he caught it just as a brief shower had occurred changing Ranma into his girl form. Ranma then lifted the bokken, and Kuno, who was too stunned to see his pigtailed goddess holding his bokken to let go, over her head. Adjusting her grip, she slammed him on his back into the dirt. Then she repeated it two more times.

For some reason, that Ranma could not understand, Hiroshi, who saw the scene, called Ranma, "Bamm-Bamm" for a week until Ranma convinced him otherwise. Ranma never figured out where that nickname came from.

The most unusual thing about the practice bokken she was using in this session were the red lines on it. These were used to signify where the blades would be on a real version.

* * *

After four hours practice, Ranma began studying some of the scrolls that Dekiko had brought with her. Dekiko herself had left to go shopping with Ranma's mother, great grandmother and cousins. One of the scrolls had a technique called 'Shadow Imitate'. It could create a shadow of a weapon, it would appear and have some strength, however when encountering any resistance it would dissipate quickly. It had the consistency of normal glass. So to be effective it needed something else, otherwise it just looked menacing and intimidating as hell.

It worked magically, utilizing her power as Sailor Siren to draw it into a shape. However, she used Ki to give it the strength needed to allow it to have more substance than a ghost. Unfortunately, since magic and matter were so different, it made it very hard to actually make it stronger. With the Iron Cloth technique it was a simple matter of using a little Ki to make cloth hard, like iron. With a magical construct, the amount of Ki needed was increased exponentially. To make a sword that was even as hard as glass took more Ki than it would take for the Iron Cloth technique to make a ribbon act like a blade of steel.

Ranma transformed into Siren and tried several things to make it stronger. Finally after a two hours worth of effort she had another idea, she tried using magic instead of Ki. The results of the experiment were a tired redhead, a hole in the wall and one in the floor, an amused grandmother, and several choice curses. She sighed when she looked at the clock and realized that there was only a half an hour before she had to meet the others at the shrine.

* * *

Nine short skirted girls and one over dressed guy were in an open field in Hokkaido. Pluto had opted to stay behind and try and use the gates to find their enemy. They had teleported here to test their powers so that Siren could look for ways to improve their effectiveness. Unfortunately they all had the same problem Siren had, they were magically preprogrammed. Siren sighed and thought, 'This will take a lot of work.' Siren decided to start with worst case first: Moon.

Siren decided to get back to basics, Moon's first attack. Sure Siren had seen it before, but never paid any attention. Now was different, Siren pointed to a rock and asked Moon to touch it without breaking it with her Tiara Action attack.

Sailor Moon raised her hand and followed the old habit motions of the attack, she yelled, "Moon, Tiara, Action!" Siren watched as she casually removed her tiara and got ready, then as it charged she noticed something she did not expect. Moon completed the task perfectly. Of course now that Siren saw and felt that she could do it, but she looked confused and got Moon to do it again and a third time. After the third time Moon wondered what was wrong.

Siren saw the confusion in the other Senshi and decided to show them. She had Moon step aside and Siren took her place and mimicked the moves and attack perfectly, only difference was she called out 'Siren, Tiara, Action!' instead of 'Moon, Tiara, Action!'

Everyone stared at the redhead, and Moon was wailing about 'sneaky loud mouths stealing her attacks.' After the tiara was put back on her head, Siren looked at Moon and said, "Interesting, I didn't notice before but your Tiara attack is actually a Ki attack."

Everyone including Moon stared at the redhead. Siren continued, "No wonder you eat like me, to power that attack you would have to have a large energy store. And eating a lot of food at normal pace would waste too much time."

Venus sputtered and said, "You mean that she eats like a pig because she has to?"

Siren simply replied, with a smirk, "Obviously."

Tuxedo Kamen shivered at the thought of all the money he would have to spend in the future. He had hoped that this eating habit of Usagi's was just a phase.

As Siren studied the various attacks the other Senshi were doing, she made mental notes of what to get them to try, so that they could improve their arsenal. Siren's musings were interrupted by the Mercury Computer's beeping. Mercury reported there was an attack in Juuban.

Moon led the teleport back to Juuban near the attack.

* * *

The Senshi appeared just inside the edge of a park in Juuban. The Kimera were on the other side and the Sailor Senshi were about to head off to fight when Siren stopped them, "I detect Kimera, three of them, in the other direction."

Mercury confirmed, "Yes, I detect them also. I think we should send someone to deal with those three since it appears they are using their previous tactic." Their tactic she was referring to was a primary big loud attack covering a smaller energy raid.

"I'll go." Siren volunteered

Sailor Moon thought a moment and nodded, "Go, but be careful. This enemy is unpredictable, it may be a trap. If it is, call for backup"

Siren nodded and left, then the rest turned and entered the park. When they reached the other side they found there were a lot of Kimera. More than they expected. It was an intense battle, but, with skill, power, and the practice they had accumulated in killing demons, they were winning. Early in battle Mercury's computer beeped, unfortunately Mercury was too busy fighting to check it. If it were important it would have made more noise anyway, or so she thought.

After the fight, the Senshi were exhausted and Uranus commented, "Where the hell is Siren? She could have killed those things with her eyes closed and got back here by now."

Mercury checked her computer when Moon started looking worried. What she saw made her eyes widen and she gasped. There was a very powerful Kimera near Siren, one that was more then a match for her, one that the computer had an ID on file for, Ryuuko.

Mercury stated urgently, "Siren needs help now. She encountered Ryuuko, and her power signature is weakening. We fell for their trap. Apparently Siren tried to call for help but she was jammed some how."

Moon took charge of the situation and shouted, "We better move, I don't want to see another Sailor Senshi die." With that they all ran towards the remaining battle.

The other Senshi arrive and see Ryuuko hovering about five meters above the ground. Triple threat was in Twin Katana form on the ground, and Siren's tiara was next to it. Siren was beaten badly. Her Senshi powers were on the verge of failing. Her uniform was in tatters, and obviously her right arm and both her legs were broken. She was being held up by Ryuuko's right hand holding her neck. Her left eye was swollen shut.

Siren was cursing herself mentally for depending on that weapon too much, 'Kuso! Pops was right, if I'd only adapted my powers better for hand-to-hand combat this wouldn't have happened.'

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? I see a bunch of little children here to watch the fall of a friend." Ryuuko had boasted.

Mars, Venus, and Uranus started charging attacks when Ryuuko waggled her left hand's index finger and said, "I wouldn't do something so stupid if I were you. You might hit your friend, and in her current condition I doubt she would survive." She watched as the attacks powered down. "That's better, now just wait your turn and I will deal with you in a moment…" before she could say anything else, Siren took the opportunity to move.

Siren screamed, or rather whispered, "Siren Shocking Wave!" despite it being said so quietly everyone still heard it. Ryuuko was very distracted by the move and reflexively threw Siren. As she fell Siren tried to think of something to do, she thought of her options and had nothing that could do any damage. She was wishing that she had mastered that shadow weapon technique but at this distance it would be too late. She couldn't even do a returning wave with it because it was so different from her normal weapon.

As she fell she remembered her training of the Senshi looking for something that might help. Then both eyes shot open, she had remembered saying, "Interesting, I did not notice before but your Tiara attack is actually a Ki attack." Her Tiara may be lying in the ground below but perhaps…

She gathered her energy into her one good hand and cried out,

"Shadow…"

everyone looked on wondering what was coming,

"Returning…"

Ryuuko started laughing thinking that Siren was so badly injured she forgot she was unarmed,

"Wave!"

A spinning mass of darkness appeared by her hand which suddenly turned into a spinning mass of white energy. It flew toward Ryuuko and tore a hole in her wing. The other Senshi started firing off their attacks as soon as Siren hit the ground.

Siren's attack was using Moon's Tiara technique to power it. The difference between the Iron Cloth technique and the Tiara action was in execution. Moon's tiara, and the others' for that matter, were magical constructs given form. Similar to the Shadow weapon. The Iron Cloth technique worked on a basis of enhancing the strength of an object by winding Ki around and through it. The Tiara attack was different in that the Ki surrounded the Tiara instead of infusing it. Thus the 'Shadow Returning Wave' would be a super powered, disposable, Tiara attack.

As soon as Ryuuko realized she was beaten and had teleported out in her usual flash of darkness, the Senshi rushed to their fallen comrade. They were relieved when Mercury and Saturn said she would be alright, but they needed to get her home. Mercury called her mother and told her to meet them at the Kinseino home. Siren might not like it but it would take a week to repair that damage and that was with both her innate healing and Sailor Senshi powers.

While this was happening Venus, Mars, Kamen, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune were talking. Neptune started, "I doubt that any of us feel that this was not a trap. However, the question that I have is: Was Siren the target of the trap?"

Kamen looked at Siren and grimaced at the unnatural angles her limbs were in. Mercury was setting her bones while Moon and Saturn were using their healing powers to help with the damage. He looked at the others and spoke, "It looks that way, but we should not count on it since this is the first time they seem to have singled one of us out."

Mars added with frustration in her voice, "True, yet we cannot discount that she was the logical choice for the job." There was a minute of uncomfortable silence.

Venus asked concerned, "So what now?"

Neptune answered, "Nothing yet. However I think we will need to guard Siren until she recovers."

Venus and Jupiter both chirped, "I'll do it!" They then glared daggers at each other.

Uranus ignored the boy obsessed girls and interjected, "From now on we should work in pairs to prevent this from happening again."

Pluto appeared and looked frantic as she demanded, "What in the name of Pluto happened! One minute I was watching the gate and it showed you were in Hokkaido training, and when I looked again you were here with Siren in this condition!"

Moon walked up to Pluto and said in her Serenity voice, "I will tell you everything later. Right now we need to seriously think about this mess and how to fix it." She looked back and saw Uranus picking up the unconscious Siren and then said to the others as Mercury and Saturn joined her, "we heard your conversation earlier and agree, we will work in pairs and Mercury will guard Siren."

Mercury looked at Venus and Jupiter. She smiled slightly and blushed then said in a quiet voice, "Siren is my fiancée."

Across Tokyo an uncute tomboy shuddered and out of sheer reflex generated a mallet and nailed the nearest object, which happened to be a panda. She muttered, "Jerk!" under her breath, then walked off, leaving a twitching, now sleeping, panda, face first, in a bowl of unidentifiable contents.

* * *

Ukyo wiped the sweat from her brow as she sealed the last box. She took a minute to relax, and she reflected on recent events. Her family was scattered, but had lots of connections and resources. She already had a building in Juuban for the new Ucchan's; however, it was the same kind of connections that her father used to have her legally a boy.

After she finished her break she saw her friend Konatsu. In recent times she upped his pay from the peanuts it was, and she was glad she did. It felt good to help a friend instead of simply using one. He had some friends himself that he was going to get to help her move, and she didn't even need to rent a truck. Konatsu assured her that the stuff would be moved quickly so she could just go on ahead.

Ukyo headed to her new restaurant which was about six blocks from the high school and seven from the Kinseino family home. She went by way of roof hoping where she could. She decided to go around the center of Tokyo and although it would add an hour to the trip she would avoid drawing attention to herself.

She had finally reached her new store she was exhausted. She may have trained since childhood to be a fighter but more then a year of not training had degraded her endurance. She looked at the store and saw Konatsu waiting for her; she grinned and shook her head. All her stuff was, as her Ranchan would say, 'ninja-ed' here. She and Konatsu started prepping the store to open. It would take a week for all that paper work to be processed, and she would be ready.

* * *

Author's notes 

(Rant time, please read before posting any comments about the family behaviors, this will explain, I hope.)

OK about Ranma's family, I have received more than a couple comments saying that they seem too manipulative and are bad for him, etc… Well in truth they are manipulative but remember it falls to them to make sure that Sailor Siren is ready to rule Siren when she appears. Think about how the amazons are, Ranma's family comes from the same origin, but they were not isolated for the last 3000 years. They hold to duty and tradition as much as the amazons have but they have adapted to the times.

Also about the school thing, as I have stated, I believe Ranma to be very smart. There is enough evidence to support this. School marks do not play as much a factor as you would think. As an example in history Albert Einstein failed Math in school. There is an effect of super intelligence that causes people of high IQ to do poorly in school, its called boredom. Genma also seemed to have pulled Ranma out of school rather abruptly, during the Ryoga incident, but this did not seem to affect Ranma's marks enough to hold him back. This says to me he did very well in school prior to Genma's sudden trips with Ranma. In Nerima, with the chaos, Ranma is often out of classes but he maintains passing (if barely) marks.

One other thing to note is that they know how much to push from Nodoka, thus they know of Ranma's limits. They do want him to be happy, but he DOES need to be ready for his role in the future. This time family life will have people who will actually help him, instead of whining about him not being honorable, or patronizing him, or even making him feel too stupid to bother. Again they will do what they can to make him happy, although some of this seems overboard they are short on time right now. As time progresses they will focus more on a happy Ranma, since a happy Ranma is less likely to just walk away.

Once again I want to add here that this will not be a Ranma/guy pairing, nor will it be a Ranma/multi girl pairing. I wanted to add that as a reminder not to head off any reasked questions.

By the way the "Bamm-Bamm" joke should be obvious to most that I am referring to that character on the Flintstones (which is owned by Hanna-Barbara and not me). Some Japanese watch North American TV like we watch theirs.

* * *

Reviewer reply

I am giving a general thanks to all reviewers, I have been noticing some repeat questions, to cut down on waste I will only reply specifically where I can without revealing too much and where it is not a question asked repeatedly. This was on the suggestions of pre-readers. I am also going to add that I am going to not comment on match-ups beyond Ranma will not end up with a guy. As stated earlier I plan on adding a lot of chapters to this story.

Trugeta

Thanks, but for most of those innovative ideas they were seemingly part of the Cannon of Girl's Bravo, there is no direct evidence of it though.

That Ryoga scene was too tempting to pass up, but I bet he would have died of blood loss before he would over come his shyness.

The fiancées not seeing what they had until it is gone is human nature.

Lord Aries Greymon

Yes, Ranma will teach each Senshi new attacks and combo attacks, Ranma was not satisfied with his own skills and probably never will/would be.

Ar-Kaos

Although it is not apparent or said in the story he is spending a lot of behind the scene time training. However as you said, it is not apparent enough.

Jason

Sorry for the misdirection about how people feel about him and treat him, I made a few errors in making some things not apparent enough.

The rest of your comments made me actually rewrite this chapter from its original form to help make it seem that they really do care for him, but sacrifices are necessary for growth. Some of them are hard to see and accept, but Ranma will be a better, happier, person because of it.

dogbertcarroll

"Ranma! Will you please quit defiling the laws of physics? At least use magic

if you are going to do something like that."

I was wanting to use that line for months, I was just looking for a time to add that in somewhere.

We won't have an Akane clone here so don't worry, but we will have a few word wars. Like tactic discussions and getting Ranma to actually learn his school work.

I agree with girl training being over done, however I needed an irate Ranma to confront his/her elders.

SlickRCBD

This comment inspired me out of my writer's block, and for that I thank you. Ranma did put his foot down, and although still lost on the school as a girl thing (this is hard coded and is important later in the story) he won against any extra training, even though it was planned for him to win. He is dealing with 9 times the life experience, between his mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, than he has.

As to friction, wait and see.

Slade3

Hehe sorry, but there are actually two fights there, I used misdirection. One was the Kimera vs an unnamed kendo-ka and one was Kuno vs Kodachi.

Gangsta Spanksta

Your opinions on the training were noted but I felt that Ranma actually going through something like that would cause too much friction right now.

After some thought I think you are right to a point, but remember that although they are not all competitive toward him, the fiancées are competitive about him.

The 'C' thing was random decision based on my attempts to come up with something for titles. I needed some inspiration or focus so that is what I chose.

TheWhiteMonk

I am glad you enjoyed it, I hope you continue to do so. I read Girl Days several times and feel that it needs more chapters. In truth it is one of the fics that inspired this one. As to my portrait of the Senshi I am glad, I have a IC reviewer for them and since he did not say I was doing anything wrong it is comforting to get second opinions. I prefer to plan for I screwed up bad situations so feedback like that helps with confidence.

Jerry Unipeg

Sorry to disappoint about the training, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Innortal

No training, but nobody says there will be no shopping.

Nodoka… she is a hard character to understand. But what she wants more than anything from my feeling is for her genetics spread as much as possible. Thus why she would push Ranma but hold back Genma.


	12. C10 Cure

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

Tenchi Muyo was created by Kajashima Masaki and was published as an anime by AIC (Anime International Company) and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.  
-- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and Pale Wolf of fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 10 - Cure

* * *

The Sailor Senshi appeared in front of the Kinseino home in a flash of light, as they appeared the family Matriarch felt the sudden arrival of powerful Ki signatures. At the time that she had felt the sudden appearance of Ki signatures she was in the Recreation room on her way to the family library. She decided to investigate since one seemed weaker then the others. After she had exited the House she noticed that it was the Sailor Senshi. She approached the Senshi and she saw them surrounding one, one she that knew from description very well. Eriko, like any great grandparent rushed would, rushed forward and asked Mercury, who was scanning Siren with her computer, "Is she going to be alright?" 

Eriko, like all of her family, was sensitive to Ki as well as being a Ki adept. In her old age she might be a bit weaker than in her prime but she is still strong enough to be able to read signatures. Her reading of the signature told her Siren's condition was serious but not life threatening. However, she knew magic was difficult to read through and it could be masking the true condition.

Mercury nodded then put her computer away, "She should be fine. But I think she will need casts for her legs and arm. I called my mother and she is coming down and will take a look herself. She is a doctor at the hospital and should be able to determine if I am correct in my analysis. It will also give us a chance to develop a cover story for the hospital."

Moon thought for a moment and nodded then added, "We should also detransform, too, in case we forget later."

Mars smirked and teased Moon, "Hey! We don't all have spaghetti sauce between our ears meatball head!" The others reverted back and ignored the bickering duo; Rei was at least keeping Usagi occupied and her mind off of Siren.

Siren was awake enough to revert back when Ami asked her to and was laid on a bed roll until the doctor arrived. Uranus, who carried her in, was just reverting back as well.

Ami's mother arrived soon after carrying her bulging medical examination bag. She had no doubts that one of the Sailor Senshi was seriously injured, they would not even ask her to come otherwise. Her prediction was proven correct upon her examination of Ranma.

She might not have the Mercury computer but she could easily tell badly broken bones when she saw them. The impromptu splints were good first aid and when she started the examination she saw that they were well set. She was sure but she felt that X-rays and casts were needed. After a brief talk with Ranma's family she called for an ambulance which quickly arrived and whisked Ranma to the local hospital. She was joined in the emergency vehicle by her mother, great grandmother and Dr. Mizuno.

* * *

At the Hospital Ranma was as patient as she could be, considering she naturally hated doctors. She would have preferred to have Tofu as her doctor, but he was not available. It always grated on her nerves how other doctors treated her. The doctors and nurses were not doing anything wrong per say, but they kept treating Ranma like a delicate flower. Delicate and flower were two words that no sane person would call Ranma if he were in male form, but being here in female form seemed to invite such treatment. Fortunately for the staff nobody had used that pair of words yet in reference to her. 

Ranma's attention snapped into focus as Ami's mother entered and spoke to a nurse and another doctor. "So, how is she?"

The doctor replied, "She's fine, for such a delicate looking flower, she seems to taking it well. I spoke with her physician with the contact information that her family gave you. It is his opinion experience that she should be fine in a week, but I doubt that."

The nurse was a bit more confident about Tofu's opinion about this patient, as she knew him, where he lived and who some of his patients were. The girl had the same look in her eyes she had seen before; the look of a fighter who was annoyed at the inconvenience. She was also fully aware that no martial artist in Nerima would take kindly to being described as a 'delicate looking flower.'

Dr. Mizuno looked at the doctor in front of her and stated, "She is a master level martial artist who lived in Nerima. She also knows advanced healing meditation techniques. I would not be so eager to brush it off. Besides, you are far more delicate than she is, and from what I heard she held off a monster until the Sailor Senshi arrived and she did so in her current condition."

"Please, not more of that magical girl rubbish. I have better things to do with my time than listen to fairy tales about some stupid urban legend. I…"

He was cut off when the clipboard he was carrying was knocked out of his hand by something from the direction of the bed. When he looked he saw his patient looking decidedly pissed off with a ball of blue something glowing and floating above her hand. It was only about the size of a baseball but it did its job.

Ranma looked at Ami's mother, "Hey doc can I go home now, I'm tired of listening to this idiot talk on about fantasies of normalcy in the world."

The nurse inwardly smirked, she knew full well that was a Ki blast, she heard of them enough recently from friends in Nerima to identify one, she was right on who this girl was. She was definitely a fighter from what was known through out Tokyo as the 'fighter's training ward.' "You should be ready to check out now Ranma-chan, but you will have to get Dr. Mizuno to sign you out since she is the senior doctor here and Dr. Shinhitei seems to be unable to do so himself at the moment." Despite the choice of her words she spoke them in an orderly respectful manner, she was a professional after all, and too much initiative in her position would be frowned on.

The doctor who was unprepared for the energy blast simply nodded and left muttering something about a break or a vacation. Dr. Mizuno nodded at him then turned to Ranma, "I'll go file the paperwork, so wait here till I get back." She ignored the smug smirk Ranma wore as she dissipated the Ki ball, her professionalism kept hers properly hidden.

* * *

Ranma growled internally at the cast as she sulked in her room. She'd had them before, but it was always as a guy, and here was the doctor saying that while she was aware of the curse, Ranma shouldn't change back until the casts came off. The leg casts were not so bad, they covered her knees and feet, but she could still bend at her hips so she could sit and lie down in some comfort, but her arm being in a full cast from the shoulder to her wrist was blocked from almost all movement. Worst yet she was forbidden to practice, that more than anything irked her the most. 

Ranma remembered when Ami sat on her stomach and used her foot to pin her good arm, in an attempt to show how vulnerable she was at that time. If she was a he Ranma could have easily removed her, but her girl's form's speed and strength trade was problematic in that situation, not to mention that Ami was right.

Someone entered the room, distracting Ranma from her brooding. Dekiko looked at the girl in the wheelchair and sighed, knowing that the information she had would not help Ranma's mood. "I have looked into going back to Siren to heal and be back in a day, but after talking things over with the others we decided that this is not the best idea right now."

Ranma interrupted, "Why not?" Ranma was annoyed at this; at least if he did go back to Siren to heal then he would not be neglecting her duties as a martial artist. Even if he had to stay a girl when the casts are removed it seemed the best action.

"There are a few reasons, first being your casts, there is no way to ensure their safety when we travel. Second is the image of normalcy, you may heal fast, but falsifying records should be avoided since that will only pass a cursory inspection. We have a few witnesses to you having casts, and it would be hard to explain why the casts just magically disappeared and you are fully healed. Third is the least important, but still a significant point in the argument, and it is that your family wants to spend more time with you."

Ranma looked dejected as she sighed and said, "Fine, I guess." Ranma did not mind the third reason, but the first two were really annoying. She internally sighed and whined, 'Back in Nerima magic could be used to excuse almost anything.'

"Sorry, but at this time things are too uncontrollable. We need to wait until things settle down. However, the question is do we have the time?"

Ranma looked thoughtful and smirked, "After these casts come off I'll go to Siren and clean up what I can and start what I can. But after that I am spending a week as a guy…" The smirk faltered, "That is if I can find the time to be a guy."

Dekiko left at that point, thinking to herself, 'I will need a lot of help getting Ranma to feel better, and Ami is probably the one to do it, but still I will need more than just Ami on this one. Maybe Ranma's cousins and other Senshi will help. It would give Ami the chance she needs to spend some time with Ranma. Besides if Ami is like she was in the Silver Millennium she is a pervert and thus the perfect match to Ranma.' She walked towards her room and giggled as she passed the clan matriarch.

Eriko was headed to the library as she passed Dekiko; she recognized the glint in the young girl's eyes and heard the giggle. She then decided to ignore weird behavior for the time being, her daughter and granddaughter's all had that look before, it was the look of someone playing matchmaker. 'Ahh! Youth; watching the younger generations can be so amusing at times.'

* * *

Just before dinner the next day Ami and Dekiko were talking while Ranma was trying in vain upstairs to do some katas with one arm, and her aunt Komi was watching her. Nodoka and Keiko were currently out shopping, something that Ranma dreaded internally for some reason. Eriko had left after breakfast to visit a shrine in Okayama, she stated there was an old priest up there that she needed to converse with. Ranma's remaining uncles and aunt had left for the day to deal with the family business. This left Komi as the only adult in a house with 6 teenage girls. 

Ami and Dekiko were at the Recreation room, this type of room was a bit of gaijin influence, but it served its purpose. The two were sitting on the couch, deep in conversation about the differing cultures of Japan and Siren, when there was a knock at the door. After a minute Aika escorted Ukyo into the room.

Ukyo put her delivery box on a table and chirped, "Hey guys, where's Ranma?"

Ami inwardly cringed; she realized Ukyo did not know, "He is in his room, but for the next week he is stuck in girl form."

Ukyo winced, "Ouch what was it this time? Magical prince? Evil demon? Wait the Sailor Senshi are here, so he must have annoyed them and they did it, right?"

Ami inwardly winced at the last guess, that shot was personal, but probably accidental, "No the Sailor Senshi did not do this to him, at least not directly."

Dekiko decided to answer before too much was given away, "Ranma fought a demon but was badly hurt before the Sailor Senshi arrived, he was in girl form when he got casts put on 'her'. She will be fine in a week."

Ami realized that she might have slipped if she had continued, she may have been the most level headed of the group, however, they all tended to lose some composure when they were indirectly insulted.

Ukyo winced, "Figures, but its probably better that he was in girl form at the time. After all we will have a lot of trouble if one or more of the Sailor Senshi decided to compete."

Ami smirked inwardly and replied, "Yes, it would be most difficult to out do the 'Beautiful Defenders of Love and Justice'"

Ukyo giggled at the thought, then came to an idea, "I know lets dress up as the Sailor Senshi and annoy Ranma. Even in girl form he is so cute when he looks confused. Especially if we can bring it to a point that his usual smirk is gone from his face."

Dekiko giggled and Ami blushed, then Ami said, "I have some friends who might be willing to help, they do really convincing Venus and Jupiters."

Ukyo whined, "But I wanted to be Jupiter." Then she thought for a moment, "I bet I could do a decent Pluto, Especially since almost nobody has seen her."

"I'll talk with my friends and arrange something," said Ami while thinking that they'd have to get some bad costumes, really bad ones so that nobody would suspect anything. She also decided to redirect the discussion a bit, "I think we should set some ground rules for our competing for Ranma."

Ukyo was now interested, "Oh? Like what?" She was a little suspicious, but decided to give it a chance.

"Nothing bad, but I just do not want anything like the Nerima mess to happen here. Mostly we should simply agree that we do not interfere intentionally with each other, or make each other look bad."

Ukyo liked the idea; back in Nerima with all the fighting it tended to ruin every plan. With this in place she could at least relax her guard around Ami, and perhaps even convince Ranma to go out on a date. "It sounds like a good idea but what about any other fiancées that appear? Would we ally against them?"

Ami paused, this was a good point, but she doubted it really mattered. She still had time on her side, still she did not want to wait or be second if she could help it. "We should help each other, but not apparently, and not too much. If we do it too much then problems like Shampoo will be harder to overcome. We should decide that as we go. And lets not interfere if Ranma is enjoying himself."

"Why should I let that Amazon Bimbo throw herself at him all the time?"

"Simple." Dekiko interjected, "If you let her drive him off then it will be easier to claim his heart, and if you let him come to you then you will lull him into a false sense of security then when he least suspects it he will be unable to continue without you."

Ukyo smirked and said, "Evil, I like it."

Dekiko smiled, "I take it you've heard of the moon Ranma went to?"

Ukyo nodded and Dekiko continued, "I am from that moon," She noticed Ukyo's eyes widen, "and on Siren we are a bit worse than the Amazons. Basically picture Ranma being the last man on Earth, but every girl in Japan still lives. But do not worry about me, I was interested but now that I am on Earth I can look around and pick from the untaken."

"And how do I know you are not after my Ranchan?"

Dekiko looked unfazed by the sudden anger, "Trust and what I said."

Ukyo sighed and said, "Sorry, I have been hanging around Akane too much."

The discussion continued another minute before Ukyo went upstairs with Ami to see Ranma.

* * *

Early the next morning Ranma, Ami, and Ranma's cousins were in the dojo. Aika and Jiko were facing off against Koika. Koika was going Dual bokken as was Jiko, Aika on the other hand was using a one of the family's custom double bokken. It as clear that Koika was the most skilled out of the three, however, the other two were not too far behind. 

Ami watched Ranma as much as Ranma watched the fight; it seemed, to her, that Ranma was very deep in thought. Ami looked at the fight and tried to understand how the Kinseino family style was designed. She was not as much a warrior but she knew physics. The twirling techniques seemed to have more then one function. First there was the obvious momentum it gained, which seemed to be useful in both defense and offence. Defensively it could meet an opponent with a forceful block and push an opponent back, while, if the opponent was stronger, a twirl away could pull the opponent off balance.

She continued to watch offensive and defensive parries between the cousins, and their exhaustion seemed to show as the twirls slowed and reduced in number. Ami continued analyzing the offensive twirls to realize that the power gained could be used in a full power stab or a reduced power slash. The way that the Stab was performed was by stopping the spin and thrusting, this allowed centrifugal force to take hold and pull the blade forward with the full energy of the spin. When doing a spin slash the technique involved pushing the blade forward and using the momentium of the spin to add to the energy. The defensive twirls countered for the stronger and faster stab by it being easier to knock away in a parry since the stab does not have centrifugal force pulling in any direction but forward.

The main flaw that both Ranma and Ami could see was it was a style that required high agility speed and most of all stamina. Without the high stamina it was easy to tire. Ranma also noticed something that Ami missed. The style was meant to draw in enemies into a false sense of security since it did not appear practical. The twirls were something that a lot of demonstrative katas for many styles use.

To Ranma the style also seemed to be better suited to multiple weak opponents, since it was far less effective against a single tough opponent, which was her mistake against Ryuuko. When facing an opponent with more power she had let her normal anti-demon combat style be used.

Ranma vowed to herself, 'I will develop a style to deal with threats like Ryuuko.'

Ranma continued to watch the different tactics between the two sword types. The double bokken was great at knocking a single weapon away in a defensive blow then attacking; however, when facing multiple attacks its defensive capabilities were lessoned. Whereas the twin bokken were great for defense breaks, outnumbering and out maneuvering an opponent, they lacked in force, or could be forceful but only one at a time and leaving a hole in defenses.

After another half hour of sparring the cousins took a rest after Komi arrived with Okita and Keiko. They brought breakfast into the dojo for Ranma and Ami. Normally eating in the dojo was taboo but given Ranma's condition it was felt that a little give on tradition was forgivable. After a quiet meal and a brief sparring match between Komi and Koika, Hotaru arrived to train with Ranma since Ranma was unable to meet at the shrine.

* * *

"Ok, Hotaru, concentrate. Find your focus, feel your magic flows. Do you have an idea now about a modified attack?" asked Ranma. 

Hotaru was concentrating, feeling out her magic as instructed. She knew that she had the smallest amount of potential for new attacks given her powers and weakened body, however she had not given up.

"Yes, I want to modify my Silence Wall. A Wall can only resist force, but I may want to have something forced around me."

Ranma listened and nodded, it was a good idea, the wall was a magical equal of a hard style defense, a soft style might be a really good idea, especially for a medic of the group.

"Ok good, now picture in your mind what you want. Then summon a Silence Wall and compare what you have to what you want. Then release the Wall and create your technique."

Ami was watching with her senses and her Mercury Computer, like Ranma she was a quick study so she hoped she would be able to learn from watching Hotaru, then perhaps impress Ranma.

Ranma was oblivious to Ami's thoughts, and random blushes, as she sat in her chair watching Hotaru. She watched as the Silence Wall was resummoned, but things did not go as planned. The wall, instead of reappearing curved, appeared normally, only it was visible and tinted blue, and it flew at Ranma's wheelchair. The wheel chair subsequently went flying toward Ami, who squeaked and jumped out of the way dropping her tea which landed on the chair. Ranma was glad she got out of her chair earlier as she saw it bounce hard into a wall.

Both Ami and Ranma looked at Hotaru and she said, "Silence Wave?"

All was quiet for a moment before all three broke out laughing. Well it was Hotaru's way to honor her sensei, since her new attack mirrored Siren's unarmed attacks to a degree.

Next Ami decided to try. As she was preparing Ranma noticed Koika had arrived and assessing the damage. Ami had watched Hotaru closely and felt she could pull her own defense technique. She summoned her energies and focused the cold mist of her attack on a small area. It seemed to be working as the temperature dropped and an icy shield quickly formed. However, as it finished forming Ranma noticed something wrong. "Mercury, I think you have a problem."

Mercury turned to Ranma then looked back quickly as she heard the 'shield' crack. She was unable to jump out of the way fast enough as the large shield fell on top of her. The Shield was a typical european medieval tower shield, it was to proper scale except it was 7 feet high and excessively curved.

After the shield had completely landed, Mercury had to be helped out from under it by Saturn and Koika. Koika to her credit did not laugh, Ranma on the other hand did. But after getting glares she waved her good arm and said, "You two did great, when I made my first attack I knocked myself out, so a few slipups are understandable.

Koika took the wheelchair out as the Saturn and Mercury returned to normal, the three proceeded to discuss the actions, both good and bad of what happened. The talk continued for almost an hour when Haruka arrived. Before Haruka and Hotaru left Hotaru used some of her healing power, it did not amount to much, but the sooner Ranma was healed the better.

* * *

After Hotaru left Ami and Ranma went back to the house. Since Koika had taken the wheelchair in to get cleaned Ami had to carry Ranma. Ami had transformed so she had little trouble carrying Ranma, however due to the casts she had to do it Bridal style, and Ranma's good arm was over her shoulder for better support. As they approached the house the door was opened by Koika. 

Koika smiled as Ranma was carried in, it turned to a smirk as she realized a perfect way to tease the two with little backlash in the immediate future. She asked, "So who's the bride?"

Ami, to her credit did not seem to react but did wink at Ranma. Ranma caught this and smirked herself before activating her cuter than a box of kittens look. Ami turned to Koika and answered in her most straight voice, "Why the most feminine one of course."

Ranma interjected, "Ya, it's real obvious which one of us is the one that wears the pants here."

Koika looked at the scene, Ranma being held in a bridal carrying position with a cute look on her face and wearing 'his' usual tangs, while Ami was trying, but failing badly, to look masculine in her sailor fuku. Koika broke out laughing and took off at a fast walk toward the dojo. Just after she entered Ranma and Ami broke out laughing as well.

* * *

"But..." 

"No buts, Nodo-chan. He has enough to deal with without being preasured any more. No new fiancées, and I will determine if any are unfit to continue chasing him. I want what is best, but forcing the issue will bring up problems." Eriko, the clan Matriarch and Nodoka's grandmother, was having a hard time getting it through her grandchild's head to back off.

"What about mistresses, can they stay as mistresses?"

"No descendent of mine will be born out of wedlock, Nodoka. According to Sirenian law he may have several wives, but, given his personality, I doubt that will happen." Eriko noticed that her grandchild had stopped listening after the 'several wives' point. She thinks wearily to herself, 'the pervert in the family is always the one you least suspect.'

After trying for another 10 minutes Eriko gave up and left the dinning room, as she headed up to the library Ami came up to her. "Can I help you Ami-chan"

Ami replied, "Yes, I understand that you have records of the Silver Millennium and was hoping to compare notes."

Eriko smiled and answered with a touch of humor, "Of course, Lady Mercury, Record keeping is your area anyway."

Ami blushed and followed Eriko to the library. She regained her composure and said, "Thank you, most of our memories are fragmented and the Mercury Computer is a little sketchy in many areas, probably since they were either classified at the time or common knowledge."

They reached the library and sat down, Komi brought in tea for them and they waited until she left to start speaking. "How about I tell you what I know then you add what you know. I will keep it concise, thus if you have specific questions I will answer if I can."

Ami nodded, it sounded good to her, and she also set up her Mercury computer to record. "Before we begin I was wondering how many of your family know and how much they know."

Eriko answered, "Everyone in this house knows who you girls are as far as you showing your normal state and that we are descended from Siren. But I want to keep as many details quiet for now as it may be important later. It is family duty and tradition to keep the family art alive for when Ranma returned. Beyond that it is not important to know anything else, except to pass on when it is time."

Ami nodded, this made sense and put her fears to rest that they were being careless with their secrets. Eriko smiled and spoke to Ami, "Do not worry about someone accidentally learning something, there was a group of boys who kept trying to peek over the wall a few years ago, the girls corrected that behavior."

"What our records tell us of the history of the Moon kingdom is that we humans are not completely native to Earth. Although there was a species that lived on Earth when we immigrated they were bred out by the space faring species. This species were known as Jurian. The Jurians as a people were generally more relaxed as a species then most others out there, the most of them settled in areas of Europe and Japan around 10 thousand years ago. Normally they would not have interfered with a primitive culture however they were stranded here on Earth. The ones that lived in Europe eventually founded the city of Atlantis." Ami was very interested; the Mercury Computer had nothing on the founding days of the Moon Kingdom.

"Around 9 thousand years ago the Moon was settled, and around 400 years later most of the other worlds were inhabited to some degree. The inner planets had cities on them, Mercury's was domed, if you were wondering, and Venus and Mars were habitable naturally but there was no life on them then. Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all had floating cities, but Jupiter's gravity was too intense so it had orbital structures. They were basically big modular space stations. Pluto was at this time just a research outpost."

"Around 7 thousand years ago the colonies were thriving, but they were all independent. Small skirmishes broke out between rival colonies. At one point a power struggle broke out on Jupiter. Jupiter had the most number of colonies, and their nature allowed the smaller ones to shift and join up to make bigger colonies. Order was needed and eventually each world was allowed a way to decide its leader. This usually led to unique methods of fighting, however there were exceptions. On Mercury your ancestors decided to go the way of intelligence, this lead to families interbreeding their smarter children through arranged marriages. This lead to the Mercury ruling family. Similar events happened on Venus, Mars, and Pluto."

Eriko paused to drink her tea. Since Ami asked no questions she decided to press on. "Earth never did reach a decision on a single ruling family, but preferred an alliance. The Moon kingdom on the other hand established their own ruler early, When the first Serenity got an artifact from the Goddess Tokimi..."

Ami interrupted, "Was that the silver crystal?"

Eriko nodded, "Yes it was, but, as powerful as it was, Tokimi said that one day there would be a price for its use. However, we may never know what that price is since we never saw her again. After about a thousand years of struggle a peace came forth, and the ruling families managed to keep power for a long time. It was around this time that the first Sailor Senshi were born. Within the span of about three years all the planets gained a new member of the royal family, all were female. Seers and Prophets claimed that this new generation had strong links to the Planets; however, the Moon and Earth did not. This caused a lot of anger and tension in the Earth families and they blamed it on the Moon for not considering itself part of Earth."

"However there were also skirmishes between the various planets, this lasted around 300 years until the Moon Queen of the time called for peace. A secret that she kept and one that was passed down from Serenity to Serenity was that the Moon Crystal enabled there to be a Sailor Moon from the beginning. Knowing this Serenity vowed that as a sign of peace that all kingdoms should ally themselves to the Moon Kingdom and protect it as a symbol rather then as an empire. She also vowed that as long as there was peace and the other planets protected the Moon Kingdom that there would not be a Sailor Moon."

Ami giggled as a missing piece of the puzzle fell in place. "So that is why there is a Sailor Moon now? Because the other kingdoms no longer exist and the Moon Princess is not bound to that vow any more."

"Yes, that is likely true, but there may be more here that might be brought into question."

Ami thought for a moment then asked, "Then how is it that you know this. I mean if it was such a big secret."

Eriko got up and walked into a locked room. When she got back she placed a book on the table. "Because even though Planet Mercury was the storehouse of knowledge and Pluto of Time, the ruling house of Siren was the keeper of secrets. Information this important was too critical to risk it being lost in an accident. Otherwise a war could have broken out." Ami opened a book, and she noticed to her shock it was written in a language that only her computer recognized; the language of the Moon Kingdom."

"As you probably already know the other Planets agreed to the peace treaty. Later it ultimately ended up being that the Sailor Senshi of the Planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, would guard the moon princess of the same generation. While Pluto would remain directly under the Queen, in fact even I know little about Pluto back then."

Ami asked, "What about Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus"

Eriko sighed and answered, "They were different as well, Neptune and Uranus pledged themselves to Saturn since Saturn was the stronger planet. In fact if they had not then Saturn's final attack would be much weaker. Saturn did pledge herself to the Queen, but traditionally the three were a unit protecting the Peace from threats that originated outside the solar system. The Pledge and guarding the princess and guarding from threats was entirely symbolic until a small Jurian fleet arrived. But this was not just a patrol fleet; this was a fleet escorting the rulers of Jurai themselves."

Ami was getting very interested at this point, "Were they a threat?"

The older woman smiled and replied, "No child, but a fleet that size and power could have easily obliterated the Moon kingdom. They were escorted by a ship that was virtually worshiped by them, it was called the Tsunami. And That ship alone, unmanned, would have been enough. You see, while many solar systems evolve Sailor Senshi, ones like Jurai choose many warriors, The Tsunami was the mother to the Royal fleet. To put things simply they had detected a lot of power in the area. They happened to be near so they came to investigate. On their visit they opened good relations and exchanges of technology. However the Earth was again left out as it still was very politically unstable. Ultimately this may have been the final straws for many earth families as two factions started gaining power on earth, they were opposed each other as one wanted to join the Moon Kingdom, and the other wanted to destroy it. Around 4 thousand years ago the Moon Kingdom was at its peak and at peace with Jurai with a promise of non-interference in internal conflicts, and officially, on Jurai, our Solar system became known as a Juraian colony."

Ami then questioned, "Then why did the not help when the kingdom fell?"

"They wanted to, but could not. They promised that they would not, so they did what they could and protected the solar system from interference. You see Juraian Royality is a lot like yourselves, the Sailor Senshi, in that they have a lot of power and live a long time. In fact the Emperor that met the Moon Queen back then is still the current Emperor."

That caught Ami's attention, "You are in contact with Jurai?"

"Not directly, some of the royal family is here. That is another story though, but what I will say is that the Jurians shuttled survivors from some of the planets to Earth since the war obliterated most of the colonies. The War is a little sketchy in our records but from what we can tell it was best described as a kamikaze attack from Earth. They sacrificed their War Machine for a one day war."

"There is one more thing you should know, one of the Emperor's wives was from Earth, so remember, they are not an enemy, but can be an ally. However if we were to ask their assistance, then they will likely either go overboard or merely extract you girls and your families."

After both finished their tea they agreed to call it a night, and as Ami left to her room, Eriko put the book away. "I only hope that we have the time to reawaken a single front. We need not gain what we lost only to be too weak to stand alone and be pulled into the empire. Goddess willing the Moon Kingdom will be reborn."

* * *

Author's Note 

Shinhitei Truth Denial (yes that is suppose to be the doctor's real name, not just a sarcastic comment)

Yes I decided to make this a four way crossover. My reason is simple, flavor. The elements of the Tenchi side will not enter play soon, or be very large. What is not said is that the fall of the Moon kingdom was not the work of Tokimi but the Sailor Galaxia incident was. The current enemy has nothing to do with Tenchi either, I am merely setting up a platform for future story archs. Also I work better with three way crosses, and since I am pulling so little from Girl's Bravo, I feel that adding a little Tenchi makes it a full three way.

Future Chapters will have Ranma try and reassert his masculinity. And Pluto will reveal who the mystery man that Ranma remembers from 'her' final moments in the Silver Millennium.


	13. C11 Converge

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

-- Also Special thanks goes to my pre reader J. St.C. Patrick and irc/forum regulars of fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 11 – Converge

* * *

It was a mild and almost windless night as she stood on her balcony looking up at the stars. Despite having been up there herself more than a few times, it still looked the same from this angle as it always had. She sighed and smiled as she remembered a face she could not forget, and thoughts of the possible future came to her mind unbidden. 

As she stood alone, she was transfixed by the sheer beauty of the stars and the landscape and almost wished the one she could not forget was with her. However, despite the pleasant scenery and feelings of contentment she felt she knew that her hopes of the future were not as likely as she hoped. There were rumors of war, there were always the rumors. There were the rumors, from before she was born, and yet she could not overlook that things were getting worse and the rumors were intensifying all the time.

Regardless how much effort was put into making peace last, even by the creation of her home, it was never enough. There was always someone who believed that some deluded ancestor who made and outrageous claim was right or the deluded ones themselves. Fortunately most of these annoyances were powerless to prove their claims, and had insufficient power to be taken seriously by anything but local peacekeepers.

In the end the result was always the same, they get quieted for a few years or a few generations. The only real threat happened to be what the rumors foretold, and nothing could be done about it. She asked her Queen repeatedly about it, and requested and recommended something be done to determine the truth or prepare a defense for what the rumors claimed. But, in the end, nothing could be done and she knew it as well. If they prepared for war they would look like they were starting a war engine, and might wane in support, if they tried to send spies then the same could result. The other kingdoms were mixed in opinions. None wanted to see her or her Queen's kingdoms fall, nor was the opposite necessarily true. There had been no war since the Queen appeared to the people of the solar system and helped to build peace, and helped to make warriors like herself. She sighed, warriors like herself, she rolled that thought around her head, she was the best trained and most successful of all the guardians in the realm of combat. And yet, that might cost them.

As the best trained Senshi, it usually would stand to reason that she would be the strongest beyond compare, save the Queen. It was true, on her home world, but here she was just above the others, and needed her training to even be useful. Sure she had a lot of skill, but the others came to rely on her abilities, even to the point that she got gifts from them for helping in their realms. The gifts were always useful, but, as much as she did, most of the others did not. She was careful and accurate in her use of magic, the others, in contrast, were little more than heavy ordnance. Against a normal foe, without tactics, they could win easier than her due to sheer power, she could bring out much the same power, but they were more efficient at doing so. Only a few actually took their positions seriously, most were, as they saw themselves, figureheads and moral boosters. They believed as long as they existed there would be no enemies, this was the worst of it; it wasn't arrogance, they were not that bad, however, it was blind hope.

With a final sigh, she turned from the beauty before her and headed to the ballroom. She smiled as she thought about her dance partner, Akaji. She also thought about the Balls at first appeared to be luxurious non-necessities, but they did boost the morale of the people, and, if she was lucky, she might see Pluto attempt to take the dance floor yet again tonight.

* * *

Ranma awoke suddenly and sat up as best she could with the casts on her arm and legs. She was in a cold sweat and was trying desperately to hold on to the dream. 

'Another one of those moon kingdom memories.' Ranma thought as she sighed quietly. 'Perhaps I better stop eating weird stuff before bed, it might help. Pepperoni and cheese okonomiyaki definitely are on that list. I will need to speak with Pluto tomorrow about it, These memories are driving me nuts. If I don't get some guy time soon there is going to be a Sailor Kodachi at this rate.' Ranma shudderd at that thought.

'First thing I am going to do when I am a guy again is go piss off Mousse and get into a good, long, and enjoyable street brawl. That will be a good stress relief.'

As Ranma counted off techniques that he would use, she drifted off to sleep smiling as visions of street brawls danced in her head.

* * *

After lunch the next morning Ami, Nodoka, and Ranma went to see Dr. Mitzuno, Ranma was really hoping to get the casts off. She was getting rather jumpy lately since there was no way to exercise unnoticed with only one hand and in any meaningful way. Currently she was up on the examination bed and her mother and Ami were in the same room with her, while the doctor was looking at the X-rays were taken earlier that day. She could not help looking happy when the doctor returned with a cast removing saw. 

Ranma wasted no time asking the most important question on her mind, "Are you going to take these casts off? Finally?"

Ami's mother looked at her patient and smiled, "Only two are ready to be removed, the other will have to stay on another few days. I would say a week, but you seem to be healing faster then I have seen anyone heal before. Even Ono Tofu was interested at your rate of healing. Not that I don't have my own suspicions of what is helping you heal." She finished that last sentence with a knowing smile, and a wink.

As she prepared to remove the casts she, smiled at Ranma and warned, "I know you've had casts before so I will just remind you that removing a cast feels weird." She proceeded to remove Ranma's left leg cast and noticed Ranma pale a little as blood ran to the leg. And Ranma paled more when the arm cast was removed. "I would normally suggest exercising some to get your strength back, but in your case I suggest you not over do it."

Ami looked at her obviously happy fiancée and turned back to her mother, "Don't worry, I'll make sure she gets plenty of rest."

"Just because she is in bed does not count as resting, just don't keep your fiancée up too late." Ami's mother teased.

"Mother!" Ami protested and blushed.

* * *

That afternoon Haruka and Michiru came to guard Ranma while Ami went out to a meeting. This was under the pretence of a Sailor Senshi Meeting that Ami was needed, but it was felt that since it was more long range strategy most of the Senshi weren't needed. 

"Are you sure we don't need to go?" Ranma asked for the third time.

Haruka gritted her teeth and was about to lose her temper when Michiru put her hand on her shoulder. "Haruka, you know how unnerved Ranma gets when she is short of information about what is going on. Setsuna warned us after all."

Michiru looked at Ranma, "I am unsure what they need for this, however, it is apparent that Makoto, Minako, Ami, and Hotaru are involved. I do believe it is best if we just follow orders and wait here. I do want to know what is going on for my own curiosity, but given our past I think we best wait here as ordered. If we need to be told we will be informed, that I have no doubt about."

"I knew you would say something like that," replied Ranma. "But, I still feel that we should be there." Ranma shrugs. "Well I am headed to the dojo and work on some sprints." After she said that, Ranma got up and using her crutch she hopped out toward the Dojo.

Haruka looked confused for a moment then asked, "Wait, did she just say sprints?"

* * *

Ukyo was walking home with a smile on her face. The meeting had gone well and after some arguing she got what she wanted. 

She remembered the meeting and it was less organized than she expected. 'Well there are more people in on this game than I expected, and I had not counted on Shampoo being there, amd she did seem out of sorts.'

Ukyo mused on that as she turned a corner, 'Shampoo has been acting really weird ever since Ranma ended up in the casts. It's almost like something was hurt inside her deeply, but she does not want to say anything. I'll have to watch her, if she is desperate she might do something stupid.'

Ukyo turned another corner and got down half the way down the block on an apparently empty street before a thug jumped out in front of her with a tanto. "Give me your valuables and I won't hurt urk…"

He had been cut off by a sharp hit to the head with her battle spatula. Ukyo said to her self after she replaced her weapon, "So they still have muggers around here, well with us moving in they better move out."

As she walked away she thought about the trouble that the mugger will be in when the tanto is found, 'And people wonder about why so many eccentric martial arts family styles have such silly weapons. Imagine carrying a weapon like a tanto around like that, at least my spatula is useable and used for cooking at times.'

Ukyo continued walking and snickered realizing what the mugger was after, 'Perhaps if he wanted this Sailor Jupiter costume so much I should have let him have it, of course I would have ensured he wore it, despite it being too small for him.'

* * *

It was early evening and the sun was just falling behind most buildings, when in a quiet area of a park a dark portal opened and three creatures stepped out. The first one to exit resembled Ryuuko, it was apparently female as well and had bright red fur and red scaled wings. The creature had larger wings then Ryuuko. The wings also seemed more heavily scaled, but still were otherwise unchanged otherwise. 

The next to exit the portal was a bright green version. This one, however, had some more obvious differences. The green demon had unusual legs; they both had 2 knees, and were slim but highly muscled. It also was slimmer and seemed unable to remain still as it kept moving around, pausing momentarily, much like a humming bird does.

Ryuuko arrived last, silently. After she stepped out of the portal, she turned and closed it. She looked over the two she brought with her. 'These two may technically be Nekovyn, but I will not allow myself to accept it. Why mess with perfection? I can take a Senshi, so just send more of my kind, it is that simple. Why must the master keep playing and making more creatures like these?'

Ryuuko was not as picky about the other classes, after all, they were not Nekovyn. She held her Nekovyn soldiers to a higher standard. It was, after all, the job of all Generals to keep their ranks strong. And she felt that these things - these mistakes - were unworthy of bearing the name Nekovyn. They were freaks, abnormal. Not that her master cared. Her Master was always trying to create an ultimate creature, one that could do all she asked. She felt her master was foolish, different tools for different jobs. Her job was single combat and tactical, 'There is no way that any being that would serve the master could be strong enough to do as she asks, she has all she needs now, she just has to build up more forces, and stop wasting time playing and tweaking, creating imperfect creatures.'

Ryuuko looked at the two, she may have not liked them, but they were still Nekovyn, still her people, and yet to waste them like this… It rubbed her the wrong way, it was worse than them even existing. 'Why would she create them intentionally to die after a certain time? Why send me out here to have the Senshi kill them?' As much as she wanted to not be here on this mission, she could not go against her orders, or her geas.

She looked at their new equipment; one of the few pieces of technology that she felt was a decent weapon. They were magical energy capacitors and could absorb up to three attacks at any given time and release it back, one at a time, or as a massive shot. The other two only had one each, she had two.

She looked at her troops and nodded. At that command the three took off towards a populated area of the park, where they started draining energy. She was glad they were as relatively mindless as a Lostaru; it was less of a loss when they would be killed.

* * *

The fight had been long, and so far it seemed nobody had the advantage. Both sides were pressing each other. Both sides had passable team work. Both sides wee wearing out. The fight so far had been going for almost 45 minutes and the Senshi were in dire need of some help. 

With the three Kimera using dodge and snipe techniques and the Senshi using standard 'blast until it's dead' tactics the fight was going long. The big thing that was causing problems for the Senshi were the devices on their enemies' wrists. With them the Senshi were hard pressed to fight back effectively, since their own attacks were being used against them.

The fighting eventually broke down into three groups, Moon, Kamen, Uranus on Ryuuko; Neptune, and Saturn on the Red Nekovyn; and Mars, Venus and Jupiter on the Green Nekovyn.

Mars launched another Fire Soul at the Green Nekovyn. "We need a new strategy. We are going to get our butts kicked out here!"

Moon bit off a retort, Mars was right, they needed to win this fast, otherwise they would be too exhausted to win. "They must have…" She was cut off by Mars' communicator going off.

"What is it now?" Sniped the fiery priestess into her communicator.

Pluto responded on an audio only channel, "IS something going on? I came to ask about your fire readings but you weren't where you should have been."

"We need your help here! There is an attack, but we need help, we might need Mercury too!" Mars responded.

Pluto made her entrance about 10 seconds later with a teleport kick. To others she simply appeared out of nowhere while flying towards the enemy and performing a heel kick, into the Green's back. After she landed she teleported somewhere and successfully repeated the maneuver against the Red one. Unfortunately when she tried it once more against Ryuuko she found Kamen flying into her, Ryuuko having thrown him.

Fortunately Pluto's efforts were not wasted. "Silence Glaive Surprise!" Saturn's yell drew attention as the stunned Red Nekovyn was killed in a bright burst of energy death.

Immediately Neptune and Saturn then turned to the Green furred threat.

"Let's rush it now! While we have the chance!" Cried Venus. They all used their attacks, except Jupiter who started charging her planetary power after Pluto appeared.

"Deep Submerge"

"Crescent Beam"

"Fire Soul"

"Silence Glaive Surprise"

The nimble Nekovyn dodged the Deep Submerge and the Silence Glaive Surprise, but it then absorbed the Crescent Beam and Fire Soul, and while it was preparing to return the attacks three cries were heard.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

"Looookkk Ouutttt!"

"Whaaaaa!"

The Red flyer was caught off guard and despite trying to block and absorb the blast. Unfortunately for it the device was unable to take all the energy in. It overloaded and the explosion along with Jupiter's attack overwhelmed it instantly.

When the others looked to the last of the battle they saw both blondes next to each other and looking dazed, Ryuuko was gone, and Kamen was helping Pluto out of a caved in wall.

"Nice entrance." Jupiter remarked as she started helping Pluto up.

Mars walked up to the group holding the device the Nekovyn that Saturn killed left behind, "I think we should get this to Mercury, we should see what she makes of it."

"I will take it to her then; I can do it later, since I will need to talk with her anyway." Pluto stated, accepting the device from Mars.

* * *

Ami closed her communicator with a snap, and let out a long sigh. She had just heard about the attack, and that the others were okay. There were some minor injuries, however the worst of it was easily healed by Saturn. She heard a quiet and rapid series of thumps. As she looked up she heard a knock on her door. "Come in." 

The door slid open and Ranma bounced in, or rather hopped in, seemingly enjoying the freedom of only having a single leg in a cast.

'Ranma probably was not informed yet as to what happened,' she surmised. "There was another attack downtown just a little while ago."

Ranma, using a crutch she had carried in with her, sat down, "I know." She noticed Ami looking at her questioningly, "My mother pointed it out, as it was on the news. What happened?"

Ami filed away the reaction time to this fight getting around and on the news. 'It must have been a large and long fight, more so than they told me, if the news got it on already.' "Ryuuko was there and she had two of her own kind there. They were mostly using small attacks and using them often, they also had devices to reflect attacks back." She informed her, still a girl, fiancée.

"They must have taken the others seriously then, that tactic works best if you want to keep yourself from being setup for large counter attacks, or if you want to prolong the battle for some reason." Ranma analyzed. "What about Ryuuko?"

"She escaped again." Ami sighed out.

"Of all the enemies I have fought the toughest were the ones smart enough to know when to run. In a way I wish they got her, than we would have fewer worries. But then, I owe her for that battle that did this to me." Ranma said and indicated the cast on her leg.

Ami simply nodded. She knew enough about Ranma to know that he was definitely the type to know when to run. She had heard stories of the Saotome school final attack, after all.

"Do you think you could get Pluto here? I got a few questions for her." Ranma asked.

"You only had to ask." Came a voice behind Ranma, as Pluto appeared silently.

Had Ranma not been injured, or had it been any other time after Siren, what happened next would not have occurred. However, Ranma was a little wired about the most recent attack, and feeling a bit vulnerable. So the event in question was completely unavoidable.

As soon as Ranma heard a voice behind herself, and one she did not recognize as family, she moved like the well trained warrior she was. She was in action before the words were finished. She used her crutch like a Bo staff. She nailed Pluto in the back of the knees causing her to fall backwards and then the staff nailed her stomach and she fell on to her back and before she could react the crutch was at her throat. As soon as Ranma realized who she was a split second later she swore and said angrily, "Pluto you should know better than sneaking up on wired and injured martial artists."

"That hurt," Pluto said with a wince.

"You earned it for sneaking up on me," Ranma returned the comment. Ami was meanwhile unsure who to support in this, she secretly wanted to see Ranma jump, but seeing Pluto knocked on her back for that was worth missing a startled Ranma in her opinion.

"I am not blaming you, I am wishing that the Princess was that efficient in retaliating for me doing that to her."

Mercury was stunned, "You mean that you want Usagi to do that to you for sneaking up behind her?"

Pluto rubbed her butt and sat down with the other two. "If she did it would make me feel better about possible unseen sneak attacks."

Ami could not deny that logic, nor could Ranma.

"Anyway Ranma is there a reason you wanted to talk, or did you simply want to beat me with a stick?"

"I wanted to ask you a question about our past lives. Specifically who was Akaji and what happened to him?" Ranma asked.

Ami silently switched her computer to record this, in case the information would be needed in the future.

Pluto reverted to Setsuna and replied, "Since you asked so nicely, and that being an easy pair of questions, I will answer them. He was normal for an Earth noble of the time. He in many ways would remind you of Tatewaki Kuno. He was arrogant, loud, and handsome. He also believed, like many Earth nobles, that his position was to be thrown around when ever he could. But he was always a bit shy around you. He could speak to you in verse and rhyme for hours and not tire or repeat himself. He called you his 'Pony-Tailed Goddess'. He was inept with magic though, any attempt he tried to use it directly always failed, except one thing. He could see through any magic used to block recognition that you used. You may be a guy now and obviously in love with Mercury here," she paused and smiled at their careful denials. 'Ami is creeping out of her shell with Ranma here, and Ranma the same with Ami. This is very good for them, even if they don't decide to fall all the way in love.' "Yet back then you were all girl and loved him back."

Setsuna took a sip of tea that was not there a moment ago. Then continued, "Unfortunately, he was not able be reincarnated. It was prevented by the method of his death. When that Dark Kingdom General killed him, he did more than simply end his life, he shattered his soul link. This resulted in parts of it fusing with the soul links of those in the room. The soul link is not the soul itself, but it is what allows reincarnation to occur and maintain memories and feelings from past lives."

Ami interrupted, "So if someone did that to one of us then we would loose our identity as well? If it happened to me I would no longer be Sailor Mercury?"

Setsuna smiled reassuringly and responded, "No, our powers are linked through our Sailor Crystals, and they act like soul links. A normal Star seed would not necessarily do that, but it was not unknown back then. The Soul link crystal is just used to bring a soul's memories to its next life, without it, it would basically just start over."

Ranma thought about what was said and had to know, "So does that mean that there is a bunch of people that have his feelings for me and will come after me?"

Setsuna chuckled, and unnerved Ami who never saw her do that before. "You've already met them. They are or were most of your fiancées." After a short pause which Ami noted that the tea was yet again gone, Setsuna stood up and became Pluto again. "I need to go, I hope that helps. Oh! Before I forget take a look at this." Pluto held out the device that was found after the fight

Ami scanned the device, and started examining the readings she took. After the Scan finished and she was happy with them she snapped her computer shut.

"I am going to put this somewhere safe, I am not comfortable leaving it close by in case it is booby-trapped. I will talk to you later." With a silent dim flash of light she disappeared.

* * *

Ranma sat there frowning. It was the day after the last attack where Ryuuko proved again to be more intelligent than Ranma preferred. Ranma was currently in her room with Ami, Dekiko, Makoto, Minako, Ukyo, Shampoo and Hotaru. "So who do I owe for this little idea?" Ranma asked nobody specifically, although she suspected Dekiko, after all, the bookworm had pulled similar stunts in the past. 

She remembered the entire setup. Now that she looked back on it, it was obvious that something was up. 'No way would that many cute unrelated girls stay this close to me, for the length of a meal, and not fight.' Ranma thought to herself. 'Let's see, there must have been several people involved in this. Grandmother and Aika, must have been in on this, after all, it was too convenient to accidentally spill that juice on all my clothes while checking for clothes that need repair, and for Grandmother to decide to wash them all… and mistakenly put all the clean ones into the wash too. But then that blonde, ditzy, expression killer had to trip and spill all that water on me without getting my cast wet… It was well planned; I bet Nabiki was involved too.'

Downstairs in the doorway Nabiki sneezed on her way out. 'I better go; I think Ranma might be on to me.' As she left she planned to sell photos of Ranma in that outfit, Kuno would pay a fortune for them.

Ranma looked around her room, and nobody wanted to look her in the eyes and claim credit for this stunt. Everyone in the room was dressed in a poor attempt of a Sailor Senshi uniform. Each was good enough that they were easily identifiable, but not good enough that they would be mistaken for the real thing.

Shampoo looked at Ranma and tried to buy time for the others to come up with something, "Shampoo no know what Arien ask about. No like plan on this." Shampoo noticed it was not working as she planned. She then decided to try a distraction attempt, "Arien too too cute in Sailor Senshi uniform. Arien look like she born to wear it." After she said that she and Ukyo broke out laughing while most of the others forced out a nervous chuckle.

Ukyo regained her center long enough to say, "Why yes Ran-chan, you look like that costume was made for you." After she finished she burst out laughing again.

Not being one to be out done, Ranma decided to try and out do the two bundles of laughter, and she decided to improvise a bit on her role, "Oh, woe is to me, my sailor suited friends think I am a laughing stock! Well I, Sailor Moon, shall punish Sailors Venus and Jupiter for their actions!" Now this had everyone laughing since Ranma actually did a good job impersonating her father, as far as Ukyo could tell, and everyone would agree about the Moon role.

After regaining her senses, Ranma looked around and catalogued who everyone was dressed up as. First there was Ami, and she was wearing a Sailor Siren costume. 'I know there is something there that I am missing, but I just can't see it.' Ukyo was dressed up as Sailor Jupiter, and Shampoo was dressed up as Venus. 'Somehow I think that is quite appropriate for how much they chase me.' Dekiko was dressed as Sailor Mars. 'Hmm, why that choice, oh well if I don't know, I am probably better off not knowing.'

She looked at the others in the room and it only added to her confusion. 'Minako and Makoto as Neptune and Uranus, some how I think they are missing something, but what I have no idea. Heh, they probably are getting desperate for guys or something.' Ranma looked at Hotaru, 'Why Pluto? I am probably reading too much into this, but somehow I know something here is out of place and just begging on a disaster. But, much more importantly, why Moon?'

"Will you guys at least tell me why I am dressed up as Sailor Moon?" Ranma asked.

Ukyo answered, "Well sugar, I had the outfit already for you a month ago for that costume contest about the best couple."

Ranma was about to ask why was the Moon costume for herself, and not a Kamen costume when Ukyo preempted the question with her answer, "I already had a Kamen costume for myself."

This got Dekiko's attention, the others would not have asked, but she felt the need to ask away, "Why would you need that costume?"

Ukyo blushed and turned away, and replied, "Similar reasons from just after I arrived in Nerima."

Deciding to cut things off there, she pulled out a large tray of snacks, thinking, 'Nothing like food to end embarrassing questions.'

* * *

Two days later Ranma was leaving Dr. Mizuno's office, after finally getting that last cast off. He had just turned male again, and was planning on spending all week as a guy, Senshi fights excluded of course, and doing some meaningless street brawling. 'Gotta reinforce my guy side, all that time as a girl was making me think like them, and I have no interest in that.' 

As he left, Ami's mother held the others back and let Ranma go on ahead. "There is something I need to admit to you. Ranma didn't need that extra few days in the cast to heal his leg; he only needed a few days rest. I wanted to ensure that he would stay out of action long enough to get all the rest he needed."

Nodoka, who was with Ami and Dekiko, had to ask, "Are you certain that was wise Doctor? I mean no disrespect, but it's unmanly for him to be unable to protect his fiancées."

"Unmanly or not, he would have pushed himself too hard and probably have gotten hurt again if I hadn't. He needed this, he was just too 'manly' to admit weakness and get the help he needed."

Ami had to hand it to her mother; she could play Nodoka like a fiddle when she needed to. But she had to ask, "Why are you keeping us here then, surely you could have told us later."

"Ranma is very independent, he hated having a 'guardian' for the simple reason that it justified everything Genma taught him." As she was saying this she pulled out a very thick file folder and placed it on the desk. The name on the file, Ranma Saotome, was printed in fine calligraphy, it was in a box that had a return address from a Dr. Tofu. "I wanted to give him some time alone to stretch and to collect himself before he gets home.

* * *

Ranma was walking down the street while that conversation was going on. Had Ranma been paying attention he would have noticed it coming, but as it was he was far to much into his 'I'm a guy again' strut to see it. 

Since the others were back at the Mizuno's, for a moment he was alone. He enjoyed being a guy again very much, not that he hated his girl form, but he always equated it to lying about who he was.

He only got a few blocks from home when he was splashed. She turned around and saw Herb. Her first instinct was to get mad and pick a fight, and she knew she needed some senseless violence right about now.

Ranma started cracking her knuckles when she noticed it. Herb was holding a very familiar bucket and a very familiar ladle. She looked at him in the face and noticed he was a she too.

Herb smiled and said, "That pervert back at that Dojo said you needed some cheering up and asked me to help." Herb-chan then gave Ranma a very familiar smirk. Ranma needed no prompting; the battle was joined with the battle cry of, "I'll wipe that smirk off of your face!"

* * *

Explanation of Akaji (name effectively means debt, this is a pun in reference to the fiancées.) Akaji's reincarnation is actually all Ranma's current fiancee's except Ami plus Kuno. This is because the crisis that he died during, witnessed his soul link being shattered and merged with the souls of other people present. The Soul link is NOT the Heart crystal, it is a different thing that I made up for this fic, and I made it a crystal to fit the Sailor Moon universe. 

I just want to comment on Ryuuko's introspective. I was going for something along the lines of She sees the others as mistakes, in the way that they were needless experiments, and their existance and the fact she was there to get rid of them, was what she was mad with, not that she hated them for what they were. I hope that it came fine out the way I wrote it.


	14. C12 Crisis

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

-- Also Special thanks goes to my pre readers Urborg, J. St.C. Patrick, and everyone else at fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 12 – Crisis

* * *

Eriko sat before the two youths, her face in a hard, well practiced, frown. She eyed the two in front of her. She knew this would have happened sooner or later, she was hoping for the latter.

The two youths looked down. For Ranma; it was the worst memory that could be recalled of being lectured. Never before had anyone made such a fuss about damage to a park, or a road, or an abandoned building. After getting that lecture from a pissed Sailor Moon, and explaining Herb, Ranma had to repeat the procedure to Ami, and yet again to Great grandmother Eriko. Ranma glanced momentarily at Herb, who appeared in no better mood, they caught each other's eye for a second, but that was enough. Herb had no way out of this either.

Herb was deep in thought, 'When I get my hands on that pervert I will turn him into a girl and give her to Lime and Mint!' That thought brought a brief smile to the cursed boy's face. That was a mistake.

Eriko caught the flicker of a smile, and in ancient, angry sensei tradition responded accordingly, "Do you think this is funny Herb-san?"

Herb sat straighter, "No Kinseino-dono, I was just thinking of who tricked me into this, and how to redress the offence." Herb was nervous, and not the usual kind he was used to when women were involved. The Kinseino matriarch was scarier than his father was when he was pissed.

Eriko knew who and what he meant, she had a full understanding of the entire turn of events, after all Herb-san was at the house before encountering Ranma in the street. She knew that fight was inevitable. "I certainly hope you do not intend to do that kind of damage again around here, and I also know that you will be bringing Ranma into that. I have no illusions of either of you leaving this unresolved. However I had to pull several strings within the local government offices to have this overlooked. So if you do decide to play as rough as both of you tend to do, keep it outside the city, unless you wish another event such as took place near Horaisan. And I do believe that I have made my point clear, or am I mistaken?"

Both nodded quickly. And after being dismissed made a hasty exit. Once they had left the house and were far out of earshot, according to her Ki sense, Eriko let out a long loud laugh. The entire fight was overdue for Ranma, he seriously needed some stress relief.

After she composed herself she heard a knock at the door. "Come in Sailor Pluto"

Pluto opened the door and closed it behind her. As she approached the table she shifted back to Setsuna and smiled. "Well, I managed to catch that fight at least."

Eriko smirked, "You recorded it of course."

Setsuna pulled out a video camera, "Of course." Then her smile shifted to a smirk.

* * *

Ranma was walking back to Nerima, a long walk to be sure, but once they got some distance they could roof hop and it would be much faster. Herb looked deep in thought as well. Both knew that they had better not try that again.

After a few minutes of walking Herb had glanced at Ranma and thought about the fight. Ranma had improved a lot since their last fight. 'When last we met Ranma barely beat me, it was out of guile and adaptability that he bested me then. Now, he has reached my level of physical ability… but his Ki depths need a lot of work. Especially, if he is to aid me in my endeavor.'

Ranma was equally lost in thought; however, it was more recent. The fight they just had, was important to Ranma in many ways. Least important of which was the fact that Herb was not so far ahead in physical ability and skill. While reminiscing Ranma thought to the details of the fight.

Ranma had lunged at Herb, with the intent of tearing the other girl apart. She had spent all those weeks looking forward to being a guy and Herb ruined it. There was Hell to pay.

As Ranma was in mid lunge she saw Herb side step to avoid the attack, Ranma then twisted to attempt a kick and Herb dodged yet again. Ranma landed in a hand stand and then jumped from her hands to avoid a 'leg sweep' from Herb. Ranma back flipped and thrust her legs out to hit Herb only to have Herb knock her into a wall sending spider web cracks out from the impact site that was now supporting a Ranma-chan shaped hole.

Herb moved into position to ready for a lunge from the hole and almost missed the jump kick from over the wall courtesy of Ranma. As Herb rolled out of the way Ranma impacted the road leaving spider web fractures that spread three to four meters from the impact site. Ranma then blocked Herb's left punch, right punch, sweep kick combo, and she countered with a double kick to Herb's torso. The power of the kick sent Herb several meters down the road digging up asphalt as she went.

When Herb regained her momentum and balance she had managed to block Ranma's next attack, which was another kick. Ranma then tried another crescent kick which Herb caught and sent her through yet another wall. This time when Ranma soared over the wall she got nailed by a Ki blast that sent her to the roof of the building behind her. She then kicked up a pile of dust with the damaged shingles on the roof and made it back to the street and Ki blasted Herb, who jumped to the roof to find her and subsequently followed her to the ground. As Herb flew backward she bounced off the roof, causing more damage, and then off a tree toward Ranma in a dive tackle.

Ranma had managed to catch the tackle in a cross arm block and both girls bounced off of each other. Ranma threw a punch, kick, and crescent kick combo which Herb managed to block all and Herb countered with shoulder tackle and a jump kick as Ranma took the force of the tackle. As Ranma saw the jump kick coming she jumped high to dodge it and used a hi jump kick to send Herb into the ground, cracking the pavement and sending small chunks flying. Herb got back up and charged Ranma, as she tried to snap kick Herb away. Herb went to grab Ranma for a throw and Ranma countered with an Amaguriken to Herb's left shoulder. Herb then twisted away and threw a Ki blast from her right arm and Ranma dodged it with a quick duck and backwards roll. Ranma saw the blast hit a parked car and knock it into a retaining wall upside down.

Ranma was getting tired and decided to try to end this, as she gathered her confidence and threw a double Moko Takabisha. Herb was at that moment trying to use her flight attack against Ranma and was unprepared for the wide and powerful blast which sent her into a condemned building.

Ranma then waited a moment as she knew that Herb wasn't out of the fight yet. And then she saw her as Herb jumped up through the flat roof and landed on it. Ranma no longer remembered why the fight was happening; and at this point it didn't matter. Weeks of frustration worked out as Ranma visibly improved while fighting Herb. Ranma jumped on to the roof top. And Herb seemed confused for a moment as Ranma blocked a punch from Herb; Ranma had started to use the Soul of Ice. While the normal Hiryu Shoten Ha required the user to perform a spiral, Ranma was a master by this time. She didn't need a spiral, except when trying to get a powerful opponent caught up and feed the winds. Thus she planned on making it a short tight spiral.

Herb and Ranma threw punches and kicks and blocked each other as they continued in a spiral motion. Suddenly the building started shaking and Herb realized her mistake and belatedly began using the Soul of Ice as well. Both went airborne and the building beneath them was torn asunder by the high winds.

The two girls battled high in the sky and throwing Ki blasts at each other only to miss, fueling the tornado which moved out of the now empty lot and into the park next to it. Neither was giving any room to the other, but as neither was truly in control, neither one could even get close enough to the other to even try normal punches and kicks. Herb tried one more blast, the last she could apparently do. She had noticed that the winds seemed to be dying off, which meant that the winds were not being fueled anymore. Then Ranma noticed Herb's eyes go wide as she realized her mistake. The blast was absorbed by the winds which in turn obediently gave the energy to Ranma. To Herb it appeared that Ranma had been hit, but she had absorbed the energy blast's power instead. The Hiryu Shoten Ha was not weakening because Ranma was defeated; it was because Ranma was absorbing its energy.

Ranma started charging a large blast and saw with great delight the shocked look on Herbs face as Ranma began to glow before releasing her Ki. The attack was nowhere near the one which leveled that mountain near Horaisan, but it was more than Herb could handle or even dodge. Ranma carefully aimed the blast, ensuring that the area of the park behind Herb was empty. As the blast scored its hit she saw Herb lose consciousness and get ejected out of the wind storm. Herb landed in the park, digging into the ground leaving a small trail of dirt where the grass was plowed out of the way. With one of the fighters out, the power of the tornado guttered and died. Ranma drifted down, landing badly as she fainted on impact. The last blast was too much.

The next thing Ranma had known she was looking at a very unhappy Sailor Moon. Ami/Sailor Mercury was not around, but would no doubt be on the way. Ranma looked around at the devastation and winced. She then had taken a deep breath and prepared to explain herself.

Ranma refocused on the present, they were well outside of Minato and preparing to roof hop to the Tendo Dojo. Ranma hoped that Herb would be willing to teach that flying technique. Getting back would take longer than Ranma would prefer.

* * *

Ranma and Herb were roof hopping and approaching Nerima, when Ranma looked to Herb and asked, "So why are you here anyway, I doubt you came all this way just to spar."

Herb looked at Ranma and sighed, which was quite a feat, considering their current activity, "There has been trouble in Jusenkyo, and it seems connected to you actually."

"You aren't going to start attacking me screaming, 'This is all your fault' or 'Die Ranma' are you?"

Herb looked at Ranma, and realized that he was almost serious, "No, nothing like that, but indirectly it may very well be your fault, if only indirectly. The only thing that connects you to this directly is Saffron."

Ranma growled, "What's he up to now?"

"Nothing, but there in lies the problem. Because of the fight you two had he is unable to do anything."

Ranma was confused, "So how is that a bad thing?"

"Normally it would not be. Unfortunately circumstances surrounding you have caused some problems that were quite unforeseen. A new force came to Jusenkyo, and it was not lost tourists."

Herb stopped on a large roof and Ranma came to a stop next to him.

"Who was it?"

"We have no idea, but they have claimed Jusenkyo as their own."

Ranma was uncertain of what this truly meant, especially since he was an outsider, despite all his connections to the cursed area.

Herb explained, noticing Ranma's confusion, "You are obviously aware of my people, the Musk, and the Amazons, and the Phoenix people, correct?" Ranma nodded, and Herb continued, "Well there are more villages and small kingdoms in the area. The strongest are the Amazons, and the Phoenix, in terms of numbers anyway." Herb admitted the last with noticeable reluctance. "What you are probably unaware of is there are many small village kingdoms in the area. Most of them are too small in number to pose a threat to anyone, and many have no warrior class. However we all know and use Jusenkyo, at least at some point in our history."

Ranma began to understand, "So Jusenkyo is neutral?"

"Yes, but it is an unwritten neutral. Although any one of the warrior villages could claim it, the likely blood bath that would result from all the other villages that rely on it coming together would make it unwise to claim it."

"Meaning that nobody enforces their laws over it, despite all claiming it. So no war will occur, makes sense."

"Correct but now someone new moved in and is attacking any who approach."

Ranma was a little worried now, "What about the Guide and Plum?"

Herb answered, although his tone indicated uncertainty, "As best I know they are with the Amazons."

"So what's the big deal anyway, you all are so strong, why not just remove them from Jusenkyo yourselves?"

Herb smiled and shook his head, "Its not so easy Ranma. Despite even the villages you know of, Us, the Amazons, and the Phoenix, if we got together and prepared a war, how do you think it would turn out?"

"There isn't that many of them are there? You guys must have the strength to back your centuries worth of martial arts training. The only weak people I battled and had no trouble with were the Phoenix guards."

"That's the point Ranma. The Phoenix Guards that rumors say you tore through like a hurricane were considered excellent fighters."

"What? But they were weak. How can it be that bad there, with all that bad blood I hear between you guys."

"Yes and Cologne of the Great Amazon village was shocked when I introduced myself as prince of the Musk, she thought we were all dead. Its hard to keep fighters trained and committed without reason. Yes we have history, and amazing skills, but when there may be a dozen fighters that can even use them in the valley, much less in a single village, it all comes down to bluster."

"Perhaps, but Mousse is no slouch, he can keep up with me at times, and Shampoo is good too. There must be more good fighters than you claim."

"Happosai told me of your visit to the Amazon village, you saw Shampoo fight the last round."

"Yes, so?"

"Was it an easy win for her?"

"Yes, what's your point."

Herb sighed, "How easy did you defeat Shampoo?"

"I won with a single kick"

Herb looked at Ranma, "Her opponent would be considered an excellent fighter for the Amazons. Think about it."

Ranma paled, "If that is true, then I could have defeated the entire village, and only the elders could stop me."

"Perhaps an exaggeration, for then anyway. But most of my warriors are about par, and the Phoenix guards are the same."

Ranma was now understanding more about what Herb was getting at, "And how good, are the soldiers of this new force?"

"They give Mint and Lime more trouble than they should have, and we cannot use bare handed weapons because of some magic they use to cause warriors to drowse mid combat if they do."

"Kuso, its just one thing after another."

"If Saffron was full grown I might have negotiated help from him, but then he would likely help anyway. But the Amazons, they are more skilled at maintaining skills than using them. Which is ironic considering how many they have and how many warriors they have. Not to mention their history."

"But the Ghoul said that even the Emperor of China feared their techniques."

Herb looked at Ranma with longing, "That was during the good old days, when normal people had no access to weapons like guns. A lone warrior on Shampoo's level could easily take out an entire group of enemies with her skills alone. But now…"

"But now, all that potential is wasted with coward weapons."

Herb decided to finish this depressing discussion and get going by summarizing the situation, "Here we are, assuredly the greatest store houses of powerful techniques, with the best trained Martial Artist Warriors as best I know, and we encounter one enemy and, since only our strongest can even fight them we are forced to hide in our villages like cowards."

"So why are you here now, instead of there saving Jusenkyo?"

Herb looked at Ranma and smirked, then took off toward the dojo. Ranma shook his head and followed, knowing he just got more problems.

* * *

"An hour out of the cast and Ranma was causing problems already!" Usagi whined.

"Nobody was hurt, and this was a minor event anyway." Setsuna was not in the mood today to try and ease the pissed Moon Princess at the moment. She also noted that Rei was worried and looking at her new manga that she left out was not being read by Usagi either.

"Usagi, please relax. We expected this to happen." Ami said trying to calm down her princess. Unfortunately the glare that Usagi shot back was enough to shut her up.

"Expected? Expected! You expected Ranma to abuse her Senshi powers and cause that much damage in a meaningless fight?" She was definitely upset.

"Yes, expected. Ranma is a warrior, which, unlike us here, means that it burns in his blood to do battle. He is a person of combat and although he can do without it, when he cannot fight it causes him no end of suffering. Besides he did not abuse his Senshi powers, he never called upon them at all during that fight." Setsuna was hoping this would ease her princess.

Uranus heard this and had to interrupt, "Then how did she do all that damage? She can't be that strong? Can she?"

Makoto answered, "So says the Senshi who got her ass flattened by an untransformed Ranma."

Usagi settled down, but was still not her usual calm self yet. "Ok, so it was bound to happen, and Ranma didn't transform, but they still did too much damage to the area. Someone could have gotten hurt."

Setsuna answered, hoping this would finally get her back into bubbly Usagi, rather than upset princess Serenity mode, "They were holding back and avoiding hurting people. If both went all out then most of Tokyo would be decimated. The last time these two fought all out, they leveled a mountain. Besides I caught the fight on tape."

It was times like this that Setsuna wished she could see the future in absolute detail. After all if she could she would not be the focus of Usagi's new found furry. "You watched them fight and recorded it instead of stopping it!"

The other Senshi were keeping their peace and were glad that they weren't the ones explaining themselves, this was intense and they would prefer not being in the line of fire.

Ami interjected, "Princess it was better that she didn't. Remember, Ranma is not an amateur fighter. He was raised to do battle. If we start controlling his fights too much then we risk his loyalty. And unlike the rest of us Ranma does have a kingdom to back his or rather her stance. I doubt Ranma will start a war over something so minor, it's just not who he is. But if Ranma's people find out or believe that we are hurting 'her' in some way there will be repercussions. Especially right now. Things are too fragile right now politically."

Usagi had finally calmed but was now worried, "What do you mean?"

Pluto answered for her since she was more aware of the events on Siren, "Because of that fight with Ryuuko that Ranma ended up in a cast, he or rather she, was unable to go to Siren and properly assert control. Siren is currently in a state of unrest and possible civil war. Ranma can't just go back, not until Sailor Siren is at full strength. Ranma was unable to go back until now, and Siren was not ready for her return until around the time that she got hurt.

Ranma will shortly have to return to Siren and clear things up there, but if something happens, along the lines of Sailor Moon taking away Sailor Siren's powers before she can assert herself as ruler; the result would be all that unrest being directed at you, Princess."

Everything soaked in and Usagi summed up her feelings with a single word, "Kuso! I had no idea that things were this bad. How did it get this way anyway?"

"I wish I had an answer for you, but I do not. I advise we continue on as we have, leave Ranma alone to do what he must. I feel better about his survival on his own after this fight anyway, than I had prior to it anyways."

"Why is that Setsuna?" Asked Minako.

"Simple, if I show you this video you will understand. But my main concern was that Ranma was not ready to fight yet. This little stunt, has managed to get Ranma back up to form quickly, we just need a few more days until his body is ready."

Rei was confused by something Setsuna said, "Where are we going to watch this video? We are in the shrine, there is no where to play it on."

Setsuna stood up and walked across the room and smirked as everyone looked stunned. Rei broke into random gibbering. "You all blinked." She loaded the recording and played back the video.

* * *

"What a Haul! What a Haul!"

Happosai landed on a roof and jumped again in his roof jumping around Nerima, when he bumped literally into Herb. "Hello there Herb, what are you doing back so soon? I thought you wouldn't be back until tomorrow."

"We were looking for you actually, letch."

Happosai turned around and saw Ranma standing there, "So my boy, there you are, I didn't notice that you were here." Happosai berated himself, he checked after bumping into Herb, but didn't actually notice Ranma's approach. He should have known better, Ranma could be very silent when he wanted, Umisenken or not, he could move like a cat.

Ranma growled, "I got a bone to pick with you, about a certain bucket."

"Oh! Surely you two can't bemoan an old man a little fun can you." Happosai noticed the glares from the two pissed off guys standing on either side of him. "It was just a joke."

Herb looked disgusted, "I will grant you one thing pervert, it was a good imitation of the Bucket of Preservation, and mixing in concentrated water proof soap, was well planned, but it is time to pay for your actions."

"It's time to pay, letch, this is going to hurt you far more than us."

Happosai, knowing he was in trouble, leapt around Herb, nailing him in the back with his pipe sending him careening into Ranma. Happosai ran off cackling in laughter as the two left a dent in the pavement below.

The last the two cursed boys heard from him was, "The Master will always be the Master." Just as they were getting up, a bucket of water was thrown from the third story of the building they were next to.

"Oh! Sorry about that! I didn't see you there." Came from the window above them.

The two cursed girls just got up and walked toward the Dojo, the pervert pounding would have to wait until tomorrow.

* * *

Dekiko sat across from Senna, they were drinking tea and sharing needed information. "Ranma got the last cast off today and took about ten minutes to get into a brawl with someone." Dekiko smiled as she said that, her friend was very engrossed in fighting and loved it. So the brawl came as no surprise to her.

"I can just imagine, our legends say she loved a good fight back then, so who did she pick the fight with this time?"

"A dragon, or rather a descendant from what I have heard, but it was the dragon that started it, according to them anyway."

Senna pictured Ranma-onna fighting a Western style dragon and riding it as it bucked when she jumped on its back. After she composed herself, from the repressed laugh, she looked to Dekiko again, "So what did it look like?"

"He was tall and very handsome, had a very dignified air around him. He also didn't apparently have a dragon form, or did not use one anyway. He had deep red eyes, and triple color hair, it was mostly blue on top pink on the sides and in the back and white bangs. He also had the same curse as Ranma, and her form was much the same but definitely feminine where his guy form is definitely masculine. It was a shame to hear that such a good looking guy was engaged."

Senna smiled inwardly at Dekiko's use of language, "Well it seems that your time there has affected you somewhat, although falling for a hunk is normal, your grammar seems to have slipped a bit." Dekiko blushed at that, "However, I doubt it will affect your ability to pass messages, and report to me and Ranma."

Dekiko saw an opening and took it, "So how are things here? The time gap seems to have synced a bit."

Senna sighed and walked to a window to look at the lake, "More than a bit, and it is unstable, but at least it is generally going in the right direction. It is believed that the 'Crystal of the Moon' is causing the resynchronization now that Sailor Siren is active and near Sailor Moon at times. Unfortunately that is the least of our problems. The factions are starting to get unruly. And the council is going to do nothing."

Senna looked at Dekiko who seemed lost, "Forgive me, you have been gone for weeks here, you wouldn't have known. Most of the populace is being patient and is waiting for the Princess to return. What you probably do not know is that some cities, and yes I mean entire cities are preparing to go to war over her return, there are several groups that have been near militant against local politicians accusing them of hiding the princess or even of having killed her. Worse is that there have been discussions within the council to actually do as these groups desire. And then there are the groups that plan on preventing her return to power. To put it bluntly we are facing a civil war regardless what we do."

Dekiko was stunned, "I… Ah… Ranma needs to know this. We guessed there would be problems but not this extreme."

Senna frowned as she walked back to her seat and sat down, she took a long sigh, "It gets worse. There apparently was a Pro-Berryl faction here."

Dekiko jumped from her seat, "What!" She exclaimed, "How, when, what do you know? This is could be worse than any estimates for bad happening."

Senna stood, grabbed Dekiko's arm from across the thin table, and guided the girl to her chair, "Relax, they are gone, to where we do not know. All we know is we found a hideout, and all that was left in it was red paint on the walls; it said, 'The Queen is dead, her heir will soon follow, long live Queen Berryl.'"

Dekiko, "This is… I… What do we do? What can we do? There is too much earth side even as we speak, there is the enemy in Tokyo, and apparently there are enemies that drove the dragon to seek Ranma. Not to add the political unrest, and a coming apocalypse that will freeze the planet, neither can be avoided, and now some Berryl fanatics loose on Earth."

Senna said calmly, "The Pro-Berryl faction is still too small and does not have the resources to take even this shrine right now. So worrying too much about them is a waste of useful energy and time. They are just a bunch of fools that somehow made it to the earth. I doubt that they will be a problem." Senna wished that were true, no matter how she said it, she knew that there would be problems with them, but how soon. That was the important question.

* * *

Author's Note:

This note will be removed soon, it is just to alert long time readers that my reviewer replies will be done just on my forums and will be on a strictly post there to get your answer. I will be going over older chapters and cleaning them up and moving what is there to the forums. You can get to them at the My Forums in my profile. This note will be removed at my next chapter post.


	15. C13 Check

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

-- Also Special thanks goes to my pre reader J. St.C. Patrick, and everyone else at fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 13 – Check

* * *

The next day Ranma woke up in the Tendo Dojo and started on a few wakeup kata. He wanted to clear his mind and get ready for the day. Back when he actively lived with his father their daily morning spar would get him warmed up, but without his father as a sparring partner this had to do.

It wasn't until the third kata that he realized he had forgotten about Herb. Ranma glanced at the place where Herb slept last night, all that was there was a bed roll on opposite wall of the dojo from where he slept. Ranma was about to look for Herb when she walked in carrying a tray of food, enough for both.

"Don't say a word." That simple command came from her in a commanding plea.

Ranma, being Ranma, had to shove his foot in his mouth, "Akane or Nabiki?"

In response Herb just growled. Ranma chuckled, "Nabiki then. Don't worry you won't likely catch her doing that again."

The neo-girl looked up, "So she will stop doing it?"

Ranma shook his head, "She'll just not get caught."

Herb sighed as she put the tray down. They ate in relative silence, looking at the other occasionally. This was not an easy alliance for them. Neither one was completely ready to trust the other. Herb had his pride as a ruler and would not tolerate anyone defying him. Ranma disliked that Herb was so self-centered that he seemed not to care about hurting others. Neither would admit that they were too much alike, and yet they both respected each other. Ranma respected the simple power that Herb could bring to bear, and Herb respected Ranma for his ingenuity and guile when facing a tougher opponent.

As the two faced off in a battle of wills both desired a true rematch, and yet, neither was willing to try for fear of the collateral damage. If both were male and in top form then the devastation would likely attract more attention than either could handle. It was only luck in their confrontation on Mount Horai that nobody came looking, but that was only because there was nobody there to witness it.

Both continued to think even after they finished eating, but they were interrupted by Kasumi entering the dojo with a kettle of hot water for Herb.

Once Herb thanked Kasumi and changed genders, Ranma decided to start the inevitable conversation. "So what do we do about the Letch?"

Herb frowned, he was about to say something when he heard Mint and Lime screaming outside followed by Akane yelling about perverts. "I think I know, Akane just reminded me of what I thought of yesterday." Herb started grinning as he spoke.

Ranma returned the grin, "Let's hear it."

Herb thought for a moment, "We shall require Elder Cologne's assistance."

Ranma got up, "What are we waiting for? I have been waiting to get back at the old goat for a while now."

* * *

After saying goodbye to Kasumi, the two cursed warriors left the Tendo residence and headed for Juuban. They got to Juuban from Nerima by sitting on the roof of a passenger train. Once the train arrived, they took to the roofs and headed towards where the new Nekohanten was. They were lucky that Kasumi knew where it was since neither of them had the address yet. 

Ranma looked at Herb and asked, "Are you certain that it was wise to leave those two back there? I mean if they keep it up Akane will probably hurt them badly."

Herb replied, "They shall be fine, I am more concerned for Akane than them."

Ranma looked at Herb more intensely, "Akane might have a habit of being kidnapped but she is as strong as a gorilla."

Herb chose to remain quiet, but he eventually asked, "Why did you save me?"

Ranma was surprised by the question and couldn't answer.

"You could have let me die; I would have if our positions were reversed. I have thought about it ever since. So tell me, why did you?"

Ranma replied without thinking, "Why shouldn't I have?" Ranma put his hands behind his head and stared forward.

Herb growled and stared at Ranma, "Because I intended to kill you, I hated you, I locked you in your cursed form."

Ranma countered, "So? You weren't the first, nor will you be the last. People come after me all the time, it's only when they force me the choice of their life for another that I will take a life."

Herb was silent this time.

"I'm still haunted by Saffron, I hope that I never have to repeat that decision, but if it happens again… If I could change the past… prevent killing him, I wouldn't." Ranma admitted.

Herb was bothered by this, "Why? No disrespect but if it haunts you why not change it?"

Ranma's hands slipped to his pockets and he lowered his gaze. "Because of Akane."

Herb looked at Ranma again, "I thought you hated her?"

Ranma laughed sadly, "Not really, I hate her anger, her mistrust, but her…" Ranma sighed, "I loved her once, back at Jusendo, but now, I feel like I forgot what love is, and I can't see much of that Akane that was at Jusendo… Akane won't let her out."

The two walked in silence towards the Nekohanten and entered when they arrived. Both Shampoo and Mousse were at the old one still packing up some final things so only Cologne was in.

* * *

After Cologne recovered from hearing their plan for revenge, and managed to get the cackling down, she agreed to help. She hopped into a back room and came out with a small box, and two packets. She grinned knowing what was coming, "Here you are boys, the box contains the water proof soap, it is concentrated so be careful. The red packet is instant teenager water and the white one is instant girl water."

Herb replied, "Thank you Elder Cologne, you are most kind to help in this endeavor. Especially in light of our previous encounter."

Ranma followed, "Yeah, thanks old Ghoul, this will be fun to get back at the old letch." After a moment he decided to ask a question. "Wait, if this youth stuff works like you said then why are you so old, don't you use it on yourself?"

Cologne grinned, "I have Son-in-Law, how else would a three hundred year old biddy like myself have such a beautiful and young great granddaughter."

Herb interjected, "So that would mean that Happosai also is aware of this spring?"

Cologne answered, "No, I doubt the fool knows. He might though since he did spend so much time there. The only reason that he would know is if he actively encountered someone exposed to it and he noticed. Since it is, pretty much, the fountain of youth, even the guide traditionally keeps it quiet."

Herb added, "I, for one, am grateful, at least without that kind of temptation the People's Republic has no reason to come to the valley."

Cologne looked at the two guys in front of her. She knew the plan was set but there were a few unanswered questions about how this will be setup. After all, 'Happosai is not about to just stand there and let himself get cursed,' Cologne mused, and then she asked, "So have you decided on how to get him to stand still?"

Ranma looked pensive for a moment before steel came to his eyes, "Well Old ghoul, it's like this…"

* * *

Ranma was lying in a bikini on a chair outside of the Tendo house when Nabiki appeared. Nabiki looked at the redhead sunning herself and was noticeably confused, "So Ranma, first you disappear, and then you return and move away. After that you reappear on our door step with Herb, and now you are in girl form wearing what I can only describe as Happosai bait and Herb is nowhere to be seen. What gives?" 

Ranma looked at Nabiki, she looked blank for a moment then smiled and used her usual voice that was reserved for ice-cream store clerks, "Why would I wear something to attract Happosai? I am not sure Nabiki; perhaps Happosai could answer that question. After all I am just laying here doing nothing to attract Happosai."

Ranma said it in a way that made Nabiki think Ranma wanted the pervert, the failed look of confusion caused by lack of a poker face helped some. Taking that observation Nabiki mused, 'So he wants to attract the old pervert, but what reason, and there are easier ways to do it. Obviously Ranma wants Happosai off guard, and where is…' Nabiki's eyes widen, 'a trap.' She turned on her heel and headed towards the house. 'Thinking of which where is father? I haven't seen him since yesterday.'

Shortly after Nabiki disappeared back into the house Ranma heard the arrival of the condemned or, rather, the sacrifice. Either name meant nothing to him at the moment, as the pervert jumped on to the Tendo wall.

"What a Haul! What a…" Happosai yelled out as he landed on the Tendo property wall and upon seeing Ranma nearly fell off of it. A glimmer appeared in his eyes as he jumped down to the ground and approached a glaring Ranma, "So my dear sweet Ranma-chan. You finally decided to treat an old man with respect he deserves."

Ranma answered with a snap of the wrist and a suddenly aerial water balloon, and a yell of, "Respect you don't deserve any respect, you old pervert!"

Happosai dodged the balloon and laughed, "You missed, I guess I will have to teach you how to throw properly after I teach you respect." Any additional gloating was cut off by a water balloon to back and a third to his chest when he spun around, "Attacking from behind Herb? And with water balloons? Is that the best you can do?" Again additional gloating was cut off from a splash from behind. Happosai then yelled, "Enough with the…"

Ranma and Herb watched in fascination as the newly teenage and female Happosai felt herself up checking his, or rather her, new equipment. The fact that the pervert's clothes didn't fit anymore only added to the humiliation.

Akane came out on cue and yelling, "Ranma what are you doing molesting cute girls? What have you done to this one?"

After Akane guided the shell shocked Happosai back in Herb looked at Ranma, "Quite the actor, isn't she?"

Ranma nodded but added, "If she were really mad she might've gotten violent."

Herb just shook his head, women still confused him. His own fiancée only added to his own confusion and his curse failed to help him understand her any.

* * *

Akane finally had convinced Happosai into proper clothes after about an hour. Ranma had never figured out how she did that. Ranma was still in girl form but was in his usual tangs, and was discussing current events with Herb, who was also currently female. Both left out a lot of detail in their discussions, as neither trusted the other with the full truth yet.

Upon seeing Akane come downstairs and signal phase two, Herb summoned his bodyguards, "Mint! Lime! Get in here at once!"

The two would be karma channellers came running at high speeds and appeared with a perverted flare. Mint spoke first when he appeared, "You called my Lord?"

Lime then asked, "Would you like 'another' massage?"

Herb looked at the pair and almost decided to not punish them, but then he realized what Lime said, "Another… For there to be 'another' there must be a first!"

Mint replied with a lecherous smile, "We can do the first now if you like."

Herb was sorely restraining himself, when he had an idea. He looked at Ranma then at Happosai, who just got down stairs, and fought the urge to smile. Ranma guessed quickly what the plan was he asked the neo-teen girl, who did not hear the conversation she was walking into, "How would you like a massage."

Happosai smiled, not quite as disturbing as it was before Happi got splashed, but it reminded Ranma of Shampoo. The unsuspecting pervert then replied, "Why, I would love one, you finally decided to show your master some respect."

Akane pulled a camera from behind her back and started taking pictures as Ranma and Herb left, their mission accomplished. They head back towards the Nekohanten to tell Cologne what happened. The last thing they heard made them wish it was recorded, "Stop grabbing at my chest you perverts!"

Herb looked at Ranma and said, "He will want vengeance for this you realize."

Ranma put her hands behind her head and smirked, "Yeah. But we can worry about the Letch's revenge later. After we get the pictures back from Akane."

* * *

On the way back to Ranma's family home, his, or rather her, communicator went off. Ranma told Herb to wait there and dashed into an alley. Ranma looked at her communicator and activated it; it was Sailor Moon, "Ranma! Where are you?" 

Ranma replied, "Almost home, why? Is there an attack?"

The moon princess suddenly dropped the communicator as she dodged, this left Ranma yelling into it, "Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon! What's happening?"

Suddenly Ranma was looking at her face again, "Get to the Crown Arcade center, if your friend from that fight is still there bring her too." With that she disconnected.

Ranma paused for a moment then transformed and leaped to the roof of the building and back down next to Herb. She had no need to do that, but it kept some level of recognition away. Sailor Siren looked at Herb who had yet to make the connection due to the fact that there was simply no way that Ranma would wear that outfit.

Ranma decided to keep things formal until they were on the way, and she could properly identify herself, "Prince Herb of the Musk, there is an attack downtown and we need assistance. Please follow me." Ranma then jumped to a roof and started the trip with Herb right behind her.

Herb caught up and asked, "Is that you Ranma? How? When? I can sense your power; it was not this high a moment ago."

Ranma replied without looking, "Long story, but we have a demon attacking downtown, and we got to stop it."

* * *

Sailor Siren and Herb roof hopped towards their destination. Although Ranma only had a vague idea of where to go, she simply used the tracker she had to find the fight. It wasn't hard to find it once they got close. It wasn't hard to find once they got close, the large quantity of magical ordnance being thrown around was an obvious clue.

Once they were near enough to see the fight in detail Herb growled and cursed, quietly, it was improper for royalty to curse too loudly, or at least that is what his fiancée insisted. Herb recognized what the Senshi were fighting, and feared that if they were here already that his homeland may already have been lost.

Ranma on the other hand took only a moment, and while Herb was cursing she was already bringing out Triple Threat and preparing to do a Returning wave. She also was preparing a shadow one. This would be a long fight and only her surprise attack would net her desired results.

Herb snapped to attention when Ranma started the first attack, then jumped to one side to give Ranma the room she needed. Ranma threw her first attack, then launched the weaker Shadow Returning Wave at the enemy. But just as it arrived at the half way point she yelled, "Siren Returning Wave, Shadow Returning Wave."

Her attacks were the weakest variety since the name wasn't called, a weakness that Ranma was still hoping to correct. Senshi magic was an act of invoking power, it was helped by stating the name, as this caused the magic to automatically channel into the attack. However the reason for yelling the names, this time, wasn't part of the attack, it was a distraction as many looked at the incoming attacks.

The Lostaru were unable to dodge given the time and shock factor, however they were scattered enough so only six were taken by each attack. Unfortunately for Siren they did have the mindset to dodge the waves as they returned. Their numbers were lessened, but they still persisted in the attack. There were about three dozen of them left, but only about a dozen Sailor Senshi.

* * *

Siren's attack did manage to force both sides to regroup, and this gave Siren and Herb time to join the others.

As Siren landed next to the rest of the team Mars said, "Do you always have to make an entrance?"

Before Sailor Siren could reply Kamen arrived and made his entrance by destroying a stray Lostaru that was closer to the Senshi's cover than the building the Kimera were behind preparing their next assault.

Mars turned to the Tuxedo clad cheerleader and followed up her earlier comment with, "And don't get me started with you."

Ranma turned to The Senshi and re-introduced Herb, on better terms this time then when Moon was introduced to him yesterday, "This is Prince Herb of the Musk. He should be able to help."

Then Sailor Moon said, "As you probably remember we are the defenders of love and justice. We are known as the Sailor Senshi"

Herb suppressed a grin, 'Love and justice? Fits what Ranma and I fought about back then, or at least what he battled me over.'

Before they could go deeper into introduction the Kimera's Lostaru soldiers started attacking again, however there was something odd about the fighting they were doing.

Uranus noted it first, "They are just charging straight at us, they can't win like that."

Siren and Herb thought for a moment then looked around, and it was Siren who saw it. As she stared at what she saw she barely had the presence of mind to yell out, "Scatter! Run!"

When she yelled that and both Siren and Herb took off, everyone followed; Mercury and Saturn barely had time, and barely made it out of the position an kept running. There was a large explosion where they were standing, and the explosion had almost a two block radius. After the explosion finished everyone returned to the epicenter of the blast. All the Lostaru were dead, as was anybody in the destroyed buildings.

Before anyone could say anything about the explosion, a laugh was heard, and not a pleasant one either. Siren would have preferred it to have been Kodachi giving voice to the laugh. The Senshi and Herb looked to the sky above the building the Lostaru were hiding behind and saw her. She looked different, being covered in strange gadgets, but it was her nonetheless, Ryuuko.

But what she said was a shock to the Senshi, "Well, well, well. If it isn't Prince or is that Princess Herb of the pitiful Musk Empire, or was that Dynasty." Ryuuko shrugged. She then smiled and continued, "Not that it will matter, I am surprised to see you here, but then you were always annoyingly in the way."

Herb was getting increasingly pissed at Ryuuko as she continued, "I am surprised to see you came here after you escaped… father."

Herb yelled back, "I am not your father, you demon! You are nothing more than a perversion of Jusenkyo magic."

Uranus, Venus, Neptune and Mars took this opportunity to launch attacks at Ryuuko, but the attacks had no apparent effect, until she created four mana bolt attacks to return the energy to them. All four just dodged in time as the ground sported new potholes.

Ryuuko smiled at this, "See how useless your magic is now? All those ones you killed earlier only gave me energy to help kill you, and I am sure you noticed that effect. You cannot win 'Little Senshi.'"

Siren yelled out, "Siren Returning Wave," from behind the other Senshi, the attack was safely over their heads but it was quick. However it had the same results, the wave was dissipated easily and Triple Threat fell to the ground. Even the Shadow Returning Wave immediately behind it held no effect.

Ryuuko then returned the energy in a bolt attack, laughed and then disappeared, in what was really just a short range teleport. Before she returned to base, to the Senshi and Herb it looked like she just disappeared.

Moon waited a moment then turned to the others, she was about to speak then stops, looked at Herb and said, "Usual meeting place one hour, we have an emergency. Sorry Herb-san, members only." She then turned to Siren, "Find out what your friend knows and let us know." She turned to Mercury, "Go with them, but don't drop the transformation until you arrive at the meeting."

Moon was clearly worried, the fact that she was channeling Serenity and sounding almost panicked made the others to nod and run off to their homes. Mercury, Siren and Herb returned to Ranma's home, and Ranma dropped the transformation when she entered the front door. None of the three spoke the entire trip.

* * *

Mid way through the talk with Herb, and getting everything they could about the Jusenkyo situation, Dekiko entered, she had just returned via the old shack's teleportation pool and she looked worried, so much so she almost missed Mercury still transformed.

She looked at the three and sighed, "Ranma, we have several problems."

Ranma face planted into the table, surprisingly he didn't damage it, "When don't we? It's not like we got nothing important to do." He then lifted his head.

Dekiko looked at the floor and said simply, "It is worse than you think."

Mercury looked at Herb, then at Dekiko, Herb was just tired of talking and she felt that he told them everything important. She saved her computer's recording file and opened a new one, "Tell us then, because we need to know."

Dekiko explained about the forces on Siren, how a Civil war was about to break out and Ranma is needed, now. She told them about the pro-Beryl faction as well, which only made things worse. It was time to go to the shrine and Mercury said, "Time to go, Dekiko, I need you to come with us. There is things we will need to know on Siren that you will know better then anyone."

Ranma looked at Herb, "Call the dojo, get Mint and Lime here. We may need their help later."

Herb looked at Ranma and snorted, "You ask for help?"

Ranma looked almost hurt, almost, "When I kicked your butt for the first time I had Mousse and Ryoga with me, I ain't afraid to ask for help when I know I need it.

* * *

To outsiders it appeared that three of the luckiest guys in the world were escorting a dozen girls in to a local shrine. While this was somewhat unusual it was not unheard of. What was unheard, due to the sound wards in the shrine, was a scream, "What The Hell Do You Mean 'a pro-Beryl faction was on Siren'!"

Surprisingly this didn't come from the usual suspects of Rei, Haruka, or even Usagi. It came from Setsuna.

Ranma then added, "I gotta return to Siren for a few days, there is several civil wars that want to start and I need to stop them. Else I will be responsible for them happening if I could have stopped them."

Dekiko went for the opening, to push the button, "Decided to accept being our princess, have you Hime-sama."

Ranma ignored the crack; it was a good attempt to lighten the mood, even though it didn't work.

Usagi frowned then whined, "Why couldn't it be as easy as it was before? They send one perhaps two demons at us, we destroy it, then the next then the next. Then we fight the general. It's not fair."

Ami then interjected, "At least we know where the Kimera are based. We might be able to take them out soon. We might even be able to get allies in the fight. What do you think Ranma?"

Ranma thought for a moment then answered, "I doubt it. It's all that the Amazons and the Musk can do to not be food outright to them, and they must be losing if Herb was captured by them. That and its more along the lines of them not having the energy to waste fighting each other."

Setsuna wondered for a moment, "You never did say where their base is."

Ami answered as best she knew, "Near the Musk territories."

Setsuna accepted that as an answer until Ranma snorted, "Jusenkyo itself." Setsuna could only smack her head into the table she was sitting at.

Setsuna asked herself quietly, "How did I miss that?"

Before any further questioning could be done a beep was heard from the Mercury Computer, and she cursed when she saw what it was that she had been alerted to.


	16. C14 Confusion

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company). 

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

-- Also Special thanks goes to my pre reader J. St.C. Patrick, and everyone else at fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 14 – Confusion

* * *

There are many noises that may be considered annoying, and most are heard throughout the day. Some hear specific ones more than others but they usually change as time goes on. Some annoying noises are natural and some are artificial. The worst offender is the alarm; they come in many varieties and have as many reasons for being as they do sounds. Inevitably, though everyone hates to hear an alarm, for it means an end to peace. Most people generally only hear minor alarms - such as the ones that wake you up in the morning. But the big alarms, a fire alarm, for instance, can be worse, especially if there is a fire and you don't know where it is.

Ami was about to ask a question, when she, and all the others present in the shrine, heard an alarm coming from her computer. So she opened it and looked at the data displayed and spoke up after she digested the information, "I am detecting numerous dimensional gates opening in Shinjuku ward. And they are spread out."

As all the girls transformed Siren summoned her tracker, after checking it she informed the others of what she saw, "They are too far away for me to see how far they are apart, but I think they will try to separate us again." Siren frowned at the memory of her crushing defeat; she definitely needed new techniques that worked better one on one.

Uranus looked at Dekiko and told her, "Head back to Ranma's, you're not a fighter. You will only get in the way."

Moon frowned, it was tactless, but the truth, she looked at Siren who nodded at Dekiko before the girl left.

The group then filed outside without another word and prepared to teleport, Siren didn't even notice as she did exactly what was needed instinctively as did all the others.

* * *

When the group arrived in Shinjuku Siren looked at her tracker and cursed before she looked up, "They are definitely in small groups, about twenty groups."

Ami looked up from her computer after about two minutes of scanning and added, "confirmed, but they seem to have only picked targets that we would normally prioritize, like hospitals and schools."

Moon thought about this, separating and going solo would be a bad idea, Ryuuko made that painfully clear, so she made a decision, "We will split up into three teams, first team is myself, Venus, Mercury, and Mars. The second team is Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Third team is Siren, Jupiter and Saturn."

Everyone nodded in agreement. They began plotting out who would go where to fight the Kimera but were interrupted as someone landed next to them: it was Tuxedo Kamen, an exhausted Tuxedo Kamen. Thanks to the magic he quickly regained his composure, but Pluto spoke up before everyone else, "You are with us Tuxedo Kamen." He could only nod in response.

Once the decision of where to go was made the three groups split up Sailor Siren found herself leading her team. In part it was due to her experience in this life, and the past life that was like a ghost to her, but more importantly, she had a tracker, something that Uranus later admitted she wished she had as well. After a short bout of roof hopping, followed by a run for a few kilometers to the northwest of their teleporting location, they reached the first stop and perched on the roof, a hospital.

Siren stopped the other two before they started their charge, something was wrong. She checked the tracker again and it definitely said there was a Kimera here, yet none of her senses could detect one, including the innate Senshi evil sense. The kind that Usagi was more in tune with than any other Senshi. She looked at the others and realized that they felt the same, but she had to be sure.

Siren asked her companions, "Do you two see or sense any thing?"

Both shook their heads and she continued, "I don't like this. It feels more and more like a trap the more I think about it. Let's check the next location." Jupiter and Saturn nodded and followed the redhead in the direction of the area's park. Upon arriving they found the same problem: they should be surrounded, but there was no enemy there.

Jupiter then voiced the common thought, "Let's ask the others, I think we were tricked."

Siren and Saturn nodded and agreed and Jupiter contacted Moon to find out what was happening.

* * *

Sailor Moon was sitting on the roof of a school with her team, having had no luck finding the enemy. Here they faced the same problem as the last two spots they checked: no demon attacks; no drained people. She was frustrated and worried, and very distracted in her own thoughts when her communicator went off she jumped several feet, from a sitting position to a battle stance between the others. She blushed as she realized what it was that startled her and the others giggled at the display.

Moon opened the communicator and saw Jupiter's worried face on the other end, before Jupiter could talk Moon asked, "Hi Jupiter, let me guess, no Kimera."

The reply followed a deep sigh, "Not a one, we…" she trailed off as something off screen drew her attention, she then looked at the screen and continued, "Siren thinks that something is fooling our scanners, but she doesn't know what to look for that could do that, and whatever it is it doesn't seem to be giving any type of… power, that we can sense."

Mercury who was listening in had to add her perspective, "I agree, whatever it is that we are looking for here must be on a spectrum that our normal powers ignore as white noise if we detect it at all." She was taping visibly distracted by what she was seeing on her screen, after a few minutes of looking she then did something and smiled, and quickly frowned.

Sailor Moon asked, "Did you find something?"

Mercury nodded and replied, "I found something alright, but not our immediate answer, two some things to be specific. First I detected, briefly a Youma, not a Kimera or some other type of demon, but an actual Youma, and now its gone again from my computer's Sensors, it was far from here, outside Tokyo, and it was powerful, but that's all I got. The second is after that disappeared I managed to find a scan mode that identified a new Kimera spot. I believe we may find answers there."

Moon nodded and looked to Mars and asked, "Contact the others, please, Mars. Tell them to meet here, we will go there together." Moon then turned to Jupiter and filled her in. After she got confirmation on the others coming she closed the channel and waited, she didn't have to wait long.

The first to arrive were Siren, Jupiter, and Saturn. They were just making themselves comfortable as the others arrived, and the sight of Sailor Uranus floored the ones still standing: there she was in her fuku covered in fish guts. She growled as she dropped her transformation and retransformed to rid herself of the offence.

Pluto decided to answer the question before it was asked, "We investigated the first spot and were looking for any Kimera, Uranus thought she heard something and jumped to a roof, only that part of the roof was open, and she landed in a fish processing plant."

Uranus growled out, "The first one to laugh will be walking funny for a week."

Kamen sweat dropped, 'Oh! Why am I always delegated to such duties.' he wondered. He always got shafted into the least useful and visible jobs. It was never intended for it to always be him he knew, but it was usually felt like he was the default answer. Kamen, looks like an idiot to save Sailor Moon and give her time to take out the demon, Kamen catches the unintentionally flying Senshi and makes himself look like a perverted pedophile, and Kamen helps Uranus out of a tank of fish guts when she miss-times a jump on the way here.

Everyone of course ignored Kamen as he seemed distracted, and started planning the next phase of attack. They thought about just sneaking up on the target but Siren, who was tired of fooling around put it bluntly, "If it's a trap we should spring it."

Mercury agreed, "Tactically it is the simplest course of action, if it is a trap, we may as well just go in on full alert and not waste effort on stealth."

Venus grinned and cheered, "Let's show them that we've made out!"

Everyone present, except Venus, groaned and Mercury corrected her, "What we're made of! Let's show them what we are made of!"

Uranus looked at Siren and asked, "Think this could be that simple?"

Siren nodded, but before the others could protest Pluto interjected, "So we defang the lion from within its open mouth?"

Siren puzzled for a moment and replied, "Sounds about right, but the trick to avoiding the teeth is being faster then he is. Sometimes people setting up a trap will be expecting something behind them, they forget that some prefer the… direct approach."

* * *

In the end once they decided to go for the direct approach they were disappointed to only find a lone Lostaru, which was dispatched almost before it could react and attack. They were about to leave when they heard a clapping sound. They turned and saw a Nekovyn floating in the air.

The Nekovyn was bright red, its fur, wings and tail were the same hue which was offset by what appeared to be a black leather leotard. She was grinning at the Senshi, but each lunge she floated back out of attack range, she didn't act much like the other one, Ryuuko. Where Ryuuko used more of an attack/counter attack method, this one seemed to prefer dancing around and through the Senshi, and managed a few friendly fire hits.

Annoyed by the ever present smirk on the demon's face Siren tried something; she converted her weapon to dual blade form and threw a returning wave at the enemy and a shadow wave directly under and slightly behind it.

As she dodged the attacks the Nekovyn called out, "Please, I have studied your moves and that was an easy one to dodge!" Then as the twin waves came at her she dodged out of the way just in time to avoid being cleaved. Siren kept at it, not letting her attacks return. They kept looping around the dodging demon until the Nekovyn yelled, "Enough!" She knocked both waves out of the air with some kind of pressure attack, calling out, 'wave blaster' as she did. By the time this was done most of the Senshi were exhausted, while the Nekovyn was simply floating around they were using themselves up.

Realizing that she had almost won the Nekovyn started to gloat, "Pathetic, I do not see what is so dangerous about you weaklings, your good luck must have worn out." After a moment she laughed again, "Two of you seem to have even lost your pathetic attempts at head protection." As she laughed she suddenly stopped as twin spinning disks flew through her wings, she had managed a last second dodge, but was in intense pain. She could no longer continue the fight and teleported out before she hit the ground.

* * *

After the unnamed Nekovyn vanished they were left with the question: how did Siren and Moon co-ordinate that attack? The answer caused a few face plants when it came from Siren, "We didn't."

Moon explained further, "When Siren launched her Returning Wave and Shadow Returning Wave attacks, I noticed something, when they split a third attack seemed to arc around behind a building and stay there. When I looked at Siren her Tiara was missing so I copied what she did and sent my Tiara away for a while."

Siren nodded and commented, "I didn't even notice that she did that."

Moon continued, "Once I felt Siren's Tiara returning I summoned mine too, and I guess we just both sensed what the other was doing and went from there."

Venus shook her head, on the fly strategies saved their lives more times then could be counted, why should now be different?

As they were getting ready to check out the other sites the Mercury Computer's alarm went off again. This time it was a big incursion into Juuban, in one spot, and it wasn't too far from the Kinseino home.

Mercury swore, and not quietly, then exclaimed, "This was all a diversion! There is a large number of Kimera attacking Juuban near Siren's home!"

Sailor Siren was tensing up, her first instinct was to make haste home, but the fastest way was the teleport. Moon could tell that was going through Ranma's mind and went into action, "Pluto, Mercury you two stay here, teleport out if something happens, otherwise stay and find out how we were tricked, the rest of us will go back and deal with this threat."

The others could only agree, she was using her Serenity voice and authority. With the exception of Siren, the others knew that Usagi's channeling of Serenity to be this much of a battle leader was burying their klutzy friend. Usagi was maturing, but not into the old Serenity who was more relaxed, and more of a force for peace, instead she was becoming a warrior, a true warrior. And that worried them the most, she was supposed to be a benevolent and kind leader, not a battle hardened warrior. Only time would tell what her future was, and Neo Queen Serenity seemed more distant with every battle.

They quickly gathered for the teleport and a moment later they landed in the Kinseino yard, and were greeted by Ranma's great grandmother Eriko, his aunt Hanako, and Herb.

Herb was the first to say anything as Eriko was trying to keep Hanako calm, "Apparently your uncle is at the site of the demon attack. I sent Mint and Lime to help but there is no telling what they are up against."

Sailor Siren thanked Herb and asked, "Would you mind watching the rest of my family for a while longer?" After Herb nodded she checked her tracker, then jumped onto the perimeter wall, pointed down the street and shouted, "This way!"

No time was wasted they all gave chase, a plan would have been better than running into this fight. They didn't know what to expect except that it wouldn't be easy. Sadly this was true from the beginning for the Senshi, they always reacted, they rarely had a chance to plan anything. At least they didn't have any fatalities yet this year - dieing was not an experience or a memory they enjoyed reliving.

The redhead stopped in front of them and signaled to get down. They were on a roof near where they assumed the enemy was. They looked over the roof edge and saw hundreds of them rounding up civilians and were holding them in an almost chaotic fashion. It made one thing clear, and Venus said it quietly, "With all the innocents spread out like that, there is no way to get them out quickly, or safely."

Moon was tempted to recall Mercury and Pluto, but opted to hold out for now, they needed Mercury to find answers, they were obviously vulnerable. Siren then broke her out of her musings, "This is a trap, and there is no good way to do this."

Uranus nodded, "We would have to use wide area attacks, and unfortunately with all the hostages…"

Neptune finished for Uranus, "We would need to do this strategically."

They peeked over the roof edge carefully, the first sign of any Senshi would endanger the hostages, they found it odd only a very few were drained, probably six out of the thirty or so that they could see, and even then it was hard to make out anybody. Moon was glad that it was getting dark, although the sun had yet to set, it was almost below the skyline and the roof they were on was shaded. The dark hid them from their enemies and protected the hostages from their captors since they were still unseen.

Sailor Siren moved back from the roof edge frowning. She said to herself, "They planned this too well, but so far they seem to only be ready for a direct attack. They know Herb, and would know who to use to stop him, they probably have Mint and Lime down there."

Jupiter asked, "So what do we do?"

Mars then added, "We need a distraction, something to throw them completely off so we have time."

Tuxedo Kamen muttered, "Now would be a good time for some chaos to work in our favor."

Siren then looked up and smiled, then grinned, "Ranma can mean chaos remember." She then transformed back into Ranma, "I swore not to use this again, but I think this will be an honorable time to use it. Heh, they can't hit what they can't identify."

Mars got worried but covered it with her usual anger, "What do you mean by…" she blinked she was here, she was sure of it. She some movement and concentrated and saw Ranma hadn't moved, but when she relaxed, Ranma was gone again. She muttered, "Neat trick."

Ranma smirked, "Secret family technique, courtesy of my old man. Umisenken, way of the silent thief." She then looked over the roof again and added, "Time to steal some hostages. Get ready, I am a little out of practice, but I am only worried about the leaders of that group. The Lostaru should be easy to get around, pressure points to keep the hostages quiet, and unconscious. I should be able to get most of the hostages out in a few minutes."

Moon wanted to protest, but they had a plan, "If you think you will be caught transform, grab who you can and get back. When you get half done we will blast as much as we can, so come back and tell us when you clear half of the area, that way you should get the rest in the confusion."

Ranma nodded and pulled the Umisenken's invisibility tight. She knew that all it really did was a primitive reverse after image, this is why speed was important and so were blind spots, standing still for moments was okay, but slow movements tended to be noticeable. She took a deep breath and jumped into the darkened alley to the side of the building.

Ranma dashed around the Lostaru to the hostages, tagging ones that didn't seem to be moving and using a pressure point to put them out. What surprised the watching Senshi was when six hostages suddenly vanished then after another thirty seconds another five, then another six. Ranma wasn't happy with the strain of taking so many at once, especially dashing down an alley with them layered on her back. Luckily she got Mint and her Uncle in the first wave, they helped get the people comfortable when she dropped them off. She had used the reverse point and quickly explained to the two before leaving. She grabbed one more load and it was clear to the Senshi which side to attack.

As Ranma returned with a smaller group of four she warned them that the fighting would start shortly, and to just wait and keep these people as safe as they could. Lime was still out there, she guessed he was on the opposite side from Mint. 'Probably to keep the troublemakers separate,' She had thought. Mint wasn't in the best of shape, and neither was her uncle, both seemed roughed up, and Mint was not in fighting condition, however it was necessary since she had nobody else she could trust."

Ranma returned to the roof of the Senshi and Moon had to stifle a scream when she appeared, the others had to hold back a laugh. Moon then quietly chided Ranma, "Don't do that! You scared me as bad as Pluto does!"

Ranma smirked, "Sorry princess. I got a number out but you should attack now, There are only twelve hostages left, we should be able to attack and I can get six more out fast, just give me time to get down there, the hostages are behind that building," She pointed behind the building to the left of theirs, "It was the fastest and safest I could find. I will grab more and bring them to that," she pointed across the street, "roof top, then I will bring them behind it, I will do a returning wave and shadow wave when they are all behind it, if anyone has a chance grab a hostage and bring them there."

Moon nodded, she wished her friend was transformed, but the fight against Sailor Uranus when she first arrived showed it would be of little use. She didn't know why Ranma reversed to human form instead of staying in Sailor Senshi form, but it was for a reason, of that she was certain. As soon as she saw another six Hostages vanish she signaled the others.

* * *

The Kimera general was a cross between a phoenix tribesman, a crow, and a cat, although he looked mostly like a true Phoenix the fact that he was hunched over, had pure black feathers covering most of his body and a catlike tail sticking out of and between his tail feathers. His face looked human, as did the arms, but the only other sign of being a cat were the ears, but they weren't big. His breed was designed to use special tactics and not actually fight. Sure he could fly, but he was stuck with poor night vision, it was just after dusk to worsen the matter.

His creator hated his kind, as she did so many of her creations, to her they were failures, but the Kimera didn't care. So what if the cat addition, intended to fix the low light vision problem, failed, he still had the advantage of flight, immense intelligence, and razor sharp hearing, he knew the Senshi arrived on the roof a few minutes ago. He had decided to wait until they showed themselves then he would threaten the hostages and kill the Senshi when they were weakened momentarily by the threat. He brought the others of his kind with him, and a large group of Lostaru so that he could prove his use, earn a name.

It came as a great surprise when he heard the Senshi shout their attacks, after the first wave of attacks passed he yelled to the Senshi, "Idiots! I have hostages! They will die in the crossfire, if you don't stop!"

The Kimera general heard a yell off to the other side, "Siren Returning Wave! Shadow Returning Wave!" as he turned his head he saw his last sight, it was a bright disk headed his way, none in its path could escape it.

* * *

After the mop up exercise the Senshi returned to Ranma's with Mint, Lime and Ranma' Uncle Daiki. When they entered Ranma's home Sailor Moon reverted to her normal form. The other Senshi followed suit, except Ranma who reverted back after the mop up exercise and walked home with her uncle, as well as Mint and Lime. Once Ranma arrived home all the Senshi, the Musk and Dekiko were situated in the meeting room and had pillows to sit on supplied.

Ranma then took the first opportunity to revert back to being male. For not the first time since meeting Mamoru he looked at him and muttered something only the three males heard, Artemis shook his head, and Mamoru smirked.

Ranma then looked at Usagi and asked, "So did Ami check in yet?" Then she blinked as the air behind Usagi rippled.

Usagi reached for her communicator and was about to call Mercury when she heard Pluto speak from behind her, "We were just about to actually."

Usagi jumped across the room, and Ranma snickered out, "Nice distance on that bunny hop."

Usagi grabbed two pillows and flung them at Ranma and Pluto, both caught them which frustrated her at the denied justice.

As everyone settled down, around the family meeting table Rei's patience was thin enough to be the first to speak, "What did you find?"

Ami opened her computer and began explaining what she discovered in Shinjuku, "I found several stones that seemed to be scattered around each area that we got a reading, to put it bluntly, each stone was detected as a Kimera. I am studying ways to determine how to identify a stone from a Kimera, but I have not yet made any progress on the matter."

"Further, my analysis of the force fields that hid the real Kimera from me seem to be more effective, I do not think they know my method of penetrating the cloak as yet, so it should remain effective."

Herb who was sitting against the wall commented, "So you can't tell a real problem from a fake, and their cloak is useless." He then noticed a few glares going his way and shut up, but tried to look regal in doing so.

Ranma then added, "He's right though. And I don't think patrols will help us either. Since only two of us can track these guys, it would not be fair to us to be pulling 12 hour rotations, especially since our own danger sense is more effective anyway."

Setsuna nodded, "We couldn't find them without the trackers, our own senses detected nothing until we got past the cloak."

Ami seemed to record something, then added, "I think that this cloak is related to our inability to reach higher forms, but at least our powers in our basic form has grown. I unfortunately also have further bad news. I let my computer scan your fight here while doing my research in Shinjuku. The enemies you fought here were weaker than what may be coming. In fact, with the exception of the Cat-Dragons, all the Kimera seem to be flawed in some serious way."

Herb interrupted, "Their leader is probably getting rid of her 'Trash.' She is a perfectionist, and often takes out failed tests on the test subjects. I remember seeing the ones you battled today before, if your descriptions match the ones I saw. They lacked any kind of night vision due to their phoenix blood, and they even had cat blood added to compensate for that, but it didn't work." Everyone present understood the euphemism he used to refer to the cursed pools, It was still a dark way to refer to them considering what they represented, but still.

Venus asked, "So you think there will be more to come that are stronger?"

Herb answered, "I know they are going to get stronger, as far as I can tell all the ones you battled are the dregs. The only reason she uses the, what was that name, Lostaru… the lobster things, is that they have no weakness, sure they are not powerful, but they are the perfect grunt material. Generic soldiers, easy to make, just add water."

Nobody had anything more to add, the prospects weren't good, and they were getting worse all the time. They would have to act soon, but not tonight.

Ranma looked at Usagi, "So is life as a Sailor Senshi always this exciting?"

Usagi rolled her eyes, "Always, at least none of us died yet, that's a plus. What about being a martial artist, is it this exciting?"

Ranma barked out a laugh, "Its never boring, late night fights, people out to kill you," he jerked a thumb towards Herb, "princes from magical kingdoms causing problems. Not to mention random magical objects causing headaches after being used by someone with no clue about how they work."

Herb ignored the jab, then smirked, "That's right, pretty Princess Ranma, has a date with the government tomorrow. So I guess it's just not princes that cause you problems like that."

Ranma countered with a smirk his own, "Princess Herb will of course be joining me, after all, I can't leave her behind."

Herb glared at Ranma and he glared back, both snorted and turned back to the others who were fighting back laughs at the display.

Ranma then turned back to Herb, "If we leave Lime and Mint here, will they cause trouble?"

Herb gave Ranma a stunned look, Ranma sighed, "I take that as a yes. We will have to take them with us. Any chance on them not doing something perverted?"

Before Herb could react a twin scream of "pervert" came from the second floor. Ranma sighed, "When we go to Siren, keep them on a short leash or lose them. Although given some of the girls up there… they would either not come back, or swear celibacy."

With most of the real meeting finished, Ranma proceeded to fill Herb in on all the details he needed to know for tomorrow. Herb quickly proceeded to ensure he did have leashes for the idiots. As problematic as they were, losing the pair that way would not look good back home.


	17. Interlude Chronicle

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

-- Also Special thanks goes to my pre-reader J. St.C. Patrick, and everyone else at fukufics dot com

---

Chapter 14.5 – Interlude – Chronicle

---

'Times of change, times of growth, times of life, and times of death; these are the phases that all civilizations go through. To believe otherwise is to be ignorant of truth. Yet it is usually ignorance that causes the cycle to begin anew. Many believe that death is the end, it is not, it is just the beginning.' Dekiko paused to puzzle over the passage she just read and look up. The party was in a horse drawn carriage used to ferry important people around, currently entering the main part of the capital city. The carriage was also currently surrounded by people who heard Sailor Siren was present, which also slowed its progress. She looked to Siren who looked embarrassed and annoyed at being paraded around like some trophy.

Dekiko also took a look at their traveling companions. Herb, in female form, still wearing 'her' combat armor with a hardness in her eyes, she was holding a pair of leashes that led to collars on Mint and Lime, who were afraid of the looks that the women outside the carriage were sending their way. On either side of Siren were Saturn and Mercury.

Saturn's presence was not part of the original plan, only Mercury was suppose to come, but the occasionally insightful Moon Princess insisted. Siren tried to object but Sailor Moon simply explained that Siren's realm was still not under her control, and had been confirmed to have Berryl faction extremists present recently. Still there was the underlying tension over sending the 'Silence Bringer' as the 'second' bodyguard. If Siren proved unable to assert control and found the majority of the population had gone over to that side… She shook her head and returned to her book, that line of thought bothered her, she knew a little of Saturn, and the girl was not likely to destroy Siren in her opinion, but the fact remained: she could.

The only question she was left with was if this was some subtle pressure Moon was placing on the current regents of Siren, or if the whole situation was missed by her and Saturn had been chosen for other reasons.

'People prefer to think in terms of visible change in order to gauge things. As a species we innately organize by times of death as the aspect of change, and forget that what leads up to these times is more profound, and far more important. Times of death, often mean war, but a time of death does not need a single person to die, only a profound ideal. Unfortunately humanity prefers willful ignorance, and this usually necessitates death.'

'Change will come, as it always does, in order for true peace to last then a people must be willing to put aside self interests, as a person, as a family, as a community, and most importantly, as an empire. Unfortunately this ideal as perfect as it sounds, can only work on a small scale. Resources are always going to be limited and there will be points in which it will be easier for one person to get what they need more so than others. This is why as a people this cycle is so profound. When we are small in number we go through a time of growth. Why? Because we all have to work to survive.'

Dekiko was interrupted in her readings as the procession stopped briefly. She looked out at the people in the streets. She had been on Earth for a while and could easily tell some ways that Earth was technically more advanced, but Siren was not that far behind. Still, there were very few "Desk jobs" on Siren. To be sure the cities were decent size, but they would count as towns rather than cities in most places on Earth. The people were not as advanced, but not because of lack of knowledge, since the knowledge was easy enough to acquire on Earth. It was simply the fact they didn't have the population to run an infrastructure that would use such advanced technologies. Further with the usage of holy magic at the temples it eliminated the need for 'Doctors' and other Earth medical needs.

As the procession continued she returned to her reading. 'When a people no longer needs to use their full resources and population just to survive they transitions into a Time of Life. This is when a people will be at their greatest and their weakest. During a time of growth food, shelter and security are the most important things people worry about, but during a time of life it is entertainment, happiness, and self realization that rule the minds of people.'

'Times of Life are also the times in which any group of people prove they are civilized. It is this time that can lead towards enlightenment or death. The reason this is most profound is this is when a true government is established. Times of growth are led by strong leaders, chosen, not by chance, but by circumstance. They come to lead without given the choice to be the leader, they can lead, they know what must be done, and so it is by often unspoken agreement they lead. Times of life are led by people who are chosen by people who do not have to worry about food, shelter, or true security. If the leaders remember that these three elements are necessary and work to ensure they are always present and equal to all, then Times of Life continue to be periods of growth. Yet they are still Times of Life. And if the people chose leaders who do not understand or remember these three basic needs, if they focus on self realization, and self satisfaction, even as a civilization, then they will start failing to meet these three basic needs. When that happens they enter a time of death.'

Dekiko looked up after that passage, she thought about the implication of this and now began to see the reasons behind Senna asking her to read this before the big meeting. When she started reading she thought her people, the people of Siren, were in an age of growth. But now she knew: It was an age, a Time of Death. She looked back to the three Senshi sitting near the front of the carriage and realized, the truth was that what Sailor Siren represented to the people at this time was more dangerous than Sailor Saturn. Saturn could only destroy the moon, Siren could do worse, and was here to do worse. Siren was here to destroy their civilization. She looked once more at Herb and saw just how much damage was waiting on the wings. The futures she could see now for Siren were far different than what she would have envisioned a year ago.

She went back to the book, determined to finish what Senna asked of her before they arrived. 'Times of death are points when something dies, so something else can begin. One basic law of the universe is that to create you must destroy. There is no true exception to this. If one can say they made something out of nothing then they are short sighted. If one does not see a cost then one didn't look hard enough. Times of death can mean as little as a local leader being replaced. When you bring in a new leader, you must remove the former one, if the former stays to aid the new one then there are now two leaders and one less person doing another task. So this too is a small death, not a death of a person, but a death in the ability of a people to take care of themselves. Many civilizations have died because they were no longer able to provide for themselves. Many of these led to true death of people because to correct this deficiency they forced others to take on the burden of providing for the civilization. In the end it comes down to this. For any group of people if they cannot provide for themselves it is a time of death, even more so if a change that can correct this go unused.'

'War does not have to be an end to a time of death either, as war only means people against people. Times of death only end when people can start to change to cover their needs. Once they start changing, it is a Time of Change. This does not need something so advanced as a war, just a realization that there is a new path to take. This new path, if it succeeds, it will lead into a new time of growth, where the needs of the people are met.'

'This concept of repeating trends in history is not new, but when applied to the Moon Kingdom we can see why the fall occurred. It would be easy to blame either Earth or Moon for the fall, but the truth is much simpler, the Moon Kingdom was dying. Not a fast death by war or disease, nor a death by way of a corrupt government. They were dying because of their longevity. This irony of position was that they were falling into a situation where their best intentions let them plan farther into the future than most of the Earth could see. The people of the Moon didn't see themselves as gods, yet they sat still. They placed themselves separate to the people of the Earth and tried to help on the level that the people of the Earth would help themselves. Worse was the fact that with their longevity their government was static. This put off a time of death, even a minor one, because the government became self sustaining. Older generations lasted and younger generations could only take higher positions when they came into the same way of thinking as their elders.'

'But the ultimate sin, the one that made it an age of death when it fell, was that Earth was seen as a child and treated as such. The Moon Kingdom worked hard to help Earth help itself, but since it didn't help directly it caused Earth to hate it. If the Kingdom had lasted until Princess Serenity took the throne, it would have been the time of change, as the union between Endymion and Serenity would have finished bringing Earth up, to the Moon's level.'

'Likewise the Earth was also in a time of death, but it too was not in a necessarily bad one. It was going beyond the way of thinking about "I, Earth" and more of a "We, Humans" thought process. The People of Atlantis were at the center of this, and yet the ones who were behind the Old Earth thought were unwilling to let go, unable to look forward to being equals with the Moon. Unwilling to forgive the Moon for doing so little when they could have done so much more. This allowed the evil that percolating to spread, and led to the fall.'

'It ultimately came down to the basic three; Food, shelter, and security. The Moon had them, but the Earth needed them. The Moon explained how they could get it for themselves, but Earth wanted handouts, too. The true sadness of the fall is that so many died ultimately because the Moon saw decades as the Earth saw months, and so many on Earth just could not, wait another "month".'

Dekiko closed the book and looked at the procession and her surroundings and reaffirmed the thought that for her people, the people of Siren, it was a time of death. Yet, as she looked out the window at the Earth she could only wonder if it would take a 'Month' for things to settle. And, more so, if Sailor Moon were to become Earth's queen, would the past repeat with Siren as the "new moon?" Was this a warning from Senna about the path that was being taken, or a path that might be taken?

She remembered a line from a story she was told when she was very young, and the lines stood out in her mind, "Time is like a river, and history repeats." She knew that currents in rivers could be dangerous and an undertow could drag you along if you were ignorant of the movements. Was she seeing it repeat now? She once more looked at Sailor Siren and realized: weapons like Sailor Saturn were just that. Sailor Saturn could do potentially more damage than all the other Senshi combined, but Sailor Siren and, more so, Sailor Moon were strong personalities, people who stand out and have to be recognized. In a straight fight Saturn was more powerful, but Moon and Siren could move people.

She looked to her left and saw Herb once more before looking back at her book. Herb was proof more than anything of Sailor Siren… of Ranma's ability to move people. When Herb arrived he was indifferent to Ranma, trying to show who was better, the life debt was the big reason for his presence, and there was the wounded pride; at least from what she heard, yet here Herb was, loyal to Ranma for no apparent reason beyond the possibility that salvation for his people could lead from Ranma. Still, if that is truly why then Sailor Moon would be the better choice, pride or not for ultimately she was the true strength of the group.

It always came down to the fact that Ranma was a force of personality, with a full belief in doing the right thing, helping others, doing what needs to be done even at personal cost. Sure Ranma was stubborn, and made messes because of it and and showed some inability to think ahead, but that would be corrected in time just being around the Senshi. The change in Ranma now, as opposed to the time on Ranma was on Siren was clear. Ranma… Sailor Siren would be the true leader that her people needed. Yet if History repeats then the earth may yet again suffer. Given the time displacement, it is possible that if disrupted again then even the longevity may return. Circles upon Circles.

She thought more on Ranma, and questioned this time, not if the people would accept Sailor Siren, but instead if they would accept Ranma. Ranma would rule as male as much as possible, but that would definitely cause problems. Siren wasn't entirely against such an idea, men had come to high positions in the past. But this position was different, this position was sacred it was the position of princess, Moon Kingdom rules that stated only the Princess of the Moon could be Queen. Still she knew Ranma, and she knew her people. Her people would at a minimum demand that even in male form he go by Princess as his title. Ranma would hate that a lot, but out of duty he would follow it, dragging his heels and whining all the way, but he would accept the title.

Until that admission there was the other problem. A glance at Mercury showed she was sitting close enough to Siren that their Fuku's hems were almost overlapping. This relationship would not be problematic here, but… Sailor Siren would be hounded to have an heir, at least until the curse is revealed, perhaps even after that. She smirked and then suppressed it quickly, once more wondering what it was about Ranma that pulled out her mischievous streak. Thankfully everyone was too engrossed in the world around them to see her looking at them.

Once more smiling as Mercury put her hand gently on Siren when she wasn't paying attention. Mercury was intelligent, calm and collected. She was able to make a plan and stick to it unless a certain pigtailed warrior was involved. She might have decided to just wait, but it seems that while she was so focused on what was around her, it appeared her baser emotions and hormones subverted control a little.


	18. C15 Climbing

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

-- Also Special thanks goes to my pre-reader J. St.C. Patrick, and everyone else at fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 15 - Climbing

* * *

Silence existed in the main entry hall of the Castle of Siren. Even with the main governing body within the building and staff maintaining it, there was always an air about the building that it was to be treated with great reverence. The outer doors opened quietly, only making a sound when they touched the doorstops on the walls. The group of travelers penetrated the entryway and stood in the silence of the hall, with only clicking of their heels and shoes on the floor to mark their presence with sound. The entire building seemed to be alive and soaked in a powerful aura that to some seemed to demand respect.

As the group took in their surroundings only Sailor Siren seemed unfazed as if she were being welcomed home, instead of being measured in every way. The other two Sailor Senshi seemed to also be less affected, but it seemed to them to be less a matter of being measured and more a matter of being, grudgingly acknowledged. The others in the group were less lucky, Dekiko being the shy person she was felt as if the pressure of the perceived examination were too much for her and she had to fight the urge to bolt. Mint, still wearing the collar and leash did bolt and comically came to the end of the leash quickly , and while his head remained motionless for a moment, the rest of him continued forward and he landed on his back, with a resounding thump. Hearing the sudden noise Herb turned and growled at Mint, while Lime nearly jumped out of his skin and then tried to not act as uncomfortable as he was.

Quickly, after Mint got back to his feet, the group was led silently toward the room where the meeting would take place. The trip was long as it was in a far wing of the palace. Siren, Dekiko, Mercury and Herb noticed there were closer entrances to the meeting room than the main hall entrance, each figured the reason for using the entrance they did was more for formality than convenience. Siren glanced at... something, as she entered the room but quickly shrugged it off as her imagination.

The group quietly took their seats, with Dekiko directing them. The places they sat were very important and held meanings within meanings, even distance between was critical. In the end Mint and Lime had their collars removed and were made to sit against the wall behind the table, facing the door. The room itself was pure white both walls and ceiling, with a white marble floor which was covered by a red carpet that took up half the floor space. The table was half the length and width of the carpet and situated dead center. The light was not bright, nor was it dim, it gave off a glow that felt like mid morning and came from a fixture in the ceiling that appeared similar to a chandelier.

The seating positions were Siren behind the Japanese style table facing the door, with Mercury to her immediate right at about a foot distance, and Saturn to her right with two feet distance from Mercury. Dekiko was to Ranma's left at two feet away and Herb was three feet away from Dekiko. Only once everyone was seated did Siren really notice the size of the table, and the room. When the door opened and a procession of eight women and two men entered and sat on the other side of the table each two feet apart, the true scale become completely apparent to Siren.

Dekiko had told Siren that until she was properly introduced she should not speak. If Siren, being the princess, spoke too soon it would be perceived as an insult to the group they were here to see, as it would mean they were beneath proper formal protocol. Shortly after the group sat down refreshments in the form of tea and small biscuits were served. Siren, being Ranma of course, had to fight every impulse to stuff her face as this was like a dance of formality.

Everything seemed to be going according to the plan when Dekiko spoke up in a harsh tone, "Your actions here are inexcusable, surely ones of your stations should know proper decorum, and formality in this situation, and yet your actions show nothing but contempt and insult to us."

Everyone in the group seemed confused, but hid it well, Mercury, of course knew what the insult was, as minor as it was, Siren formal tea manners state that the handle of your teacup should never point across the table and never past someone. And sure enough most of the people across the table had done just that. One or two, and it would have been overlooked, perhaps as a lapse or an accident, but all of them, and all pointing just past Siren. This was a deliberate insult, she took a look again, only one teacup was not turned in such a manor.

The woman whose teacup was not in such a position picked it up and took a sip, then returned it to its previous, non-offending position. She sighed and looked at the others. She was situated across from Saturn, and as such was in an unassuming position. Yet she was the technical head of her side of the table. "She is quite correct in this. I was also hoping that your behavior would have gone unnoticed. Unfortunately our Senshi Siren candidate's aid was sharper then expected."

The woman turned to Sailor Siren and bowed, "I apologize for their misconduct."

Siren bowed then glanced with one eye to Dekiko who responded, "Apology accepted, Regent Yobirin-mao. Now may I officially introduce who comes before you?"

Yobirin-mao nodded and spoke, "I recognize you as an equal of words, introduce us so we may speak in truth, and let harmony flow removing any discord." Internally the Regent hated having to do many of these inane speeches and posturing, but they had a purpose, in both keeping fighting and arguing to a minimum and warning any who would sabotage the meeting they will be thrown out on their ass.

* * *

It was over two hours later and Dekiko found her self contemplating regicide. It would have been forgivable in this situation, and if it continued even Sailor Mercury would join her. The target, of course, was Sailor Siren, currently powered down, and walking back and forth, constantly growling about stupid people. They were still in the same room as before but the ones they spoke with had left thirty minutes prior. Dekiko almost hoped that Ranma would act on some of the threats she was making, at least then she would not hear the whining anymore, besides some of them were quite creative for someone that appeared so honorable.

Herb on the other hand was quite amused; she was sitting in the same position as before enjoying every bit of suffering Ranma was enduring. Sure they were somewhat friends now, but Herb still had yet to get a good one over Ranma. She looked at Lime and Mint, both seemed as lost as usual, as much as they wanted to ask Herb to show them her breasts her last threat of throwing them outside into the crowds seemed to shut them up.

Ranma seemed to settle down and was trying to play her flute, but was way too unfocused to play at her normal level. She had forgotten it when she returned to the Earth and only now got it back, Dekiko seemed to have had the same problem when she went to bring it, but forgot it every time. Mercury listened to Ranma play, she was good, but Michiru was far better with her violin in her opinion. Mercury figured it was Ranma's memories of the past that let her play at all, and with much more practice would become as good as Michiru. However the way that she was playing the flute tugged at something in her as wrong, almost as if she was playing the wrong instrument, a similar instrument to what she should be playing, but wrong none the less.

Dekiko was curious about something and had to ask, "Ran-chan," when Ranma looked at her, she continued, "I noticed you are not getting better at playing the flute like you were before. What happened?"

Ranma stopped for a moment and thought, then replied, "I think it was because of my past life, I was really good back then at it, so I kinda remember. I don't remember well enough to play it perfectly though…"

Dekiko nodded then asked another question, "What about your drawing and painting?"

Ranma chuckled and answered, "A little of my past life might have helped, but ironically its because of pops."

Mercury, who was still in Senshi guise, looked at Ranma, she knew enough about Genma and it didn't add up, "How is that Ranma? I would not have thought he would teach you drawing or painting. It does not seem like what he would do."

Ranma paused, then smirked as he remembered how it happened, "Remember when I had you guys do that stone and paper test Ami?"

Mercury sighed and nodded, she was still kicking herself for that one, and a quick glance at Saturn confirmed she was grinning ear to ear. She nodded and replied, "Yes, however, I do not see the connection."

Ranma, still smirking, explained, "As much as an idiot as pops was he did recognize that drawing was an exercise of control, of course he tagged on speed training too. Or at least that is what he claimed at first. It was actually one of his usual insightful well planned out ideas." Everyone snickered as Ranma continued, "He heard of a group that could use drawings and make them come alive with their Ki, he musta figured that he could get them to train me in their art."

Ranma paused for a moment then continued, "We did find someone who claimed they could do it, but Pops pissed him off, and… well… lets just say there is a reason he never takes that bandana off in public. He had to get a scalp cap to cover the revenge the artist took that shows when he is uncovered." Ranma paused again and smirked "He used his skills to tattoo, "Genma 'Big dumb Thief' Saotome" to Pop's bald head."

After laughing a moment with everyone Ranma suddenly stood and transformed, luckily for Mint and Lime they were asleep so nobody smacked the perverts for the staring they would have done. Ranma looked at the others and explained, "Someone's coming."

* * *

Sailor Siren was listening to the so called leaders go on about letting some unknown want-to-be take over the Moon, and how stupid they thought the idea was. They had been going at it for over two hours now, and even Yobirin-mao was looking tired of this game, then again everyone seemed to be, except the leaders themselves. By now Sailor Mercury was even thinking about physical violence. It reached the point that someone had to snap soon, "I have heard enough of this pompous political buffoonery and general self-serving treachery!" Thankfully for everyone it was Herb who snapped, "I have not seen this much hot air since the last time I visited a hot spring. If you so called leaders are suppose to be merely standing in until your lost princess shows up, then why are you being so egotistical about this?"

One of the leaders, an obviously overweight woman in her late 50s responded, "Surely someone, even as low born as yourselves," as she spoke she either failed to notice Herb getting more and more furious, or chose to ignore it, "can understand that we must be sure that the real princess is the one that we allow to rule." She continued to be apparently oblivious to the fact that Herb, and now Dekiko were about to explode in rage as she kept digging herself deeper and deeper, "In fact all our evidence to date points to this so called Sailor Siren from coming from Earth of all places, she is probably from a family with no sense of honor."

Siren was really getting ready to kick this woman's ass; the only thing that kept her planted on the ground was the woman was a non-combatant. She continued listening to the tirade, but what she said next caused an uproar, "For all we know these friends of hers, the so called Sailor Mercury and Sailor Saturn, are just as fake as she is, probably that Sailor Moon too. The real Moon Princess would not have allowed any of the events that has happened on Earth in recent history to occur. Sailor Galaxia would not have killed all of you false…" Her tirade was silenced with a loud crack as Sailor Mercury, in a sudden and out of character action leapt over the table and slapped her in the cheek.

Mercury's eyes were burning as she stared at the woman, "How dare you, you have no right to insult the Moon Princess like that. Doubting that Sailor Siren is your Princess I can understand, but Sailor Moon has proved herself more than once as to who she is. It was the rest of us that were too weak to protect her like we should have. But you sit here saying nothing but insults to us about Sailor Siren and Sailor Moon. In fact…"

She was cut off by the Regent when she said loudly and clearly, "That's enough! Both of you are out of line, one more outburst or direct insult from either of you and I will ask you to leave." After a pregnant pause Mercury returned to her seat.

Before Mercury sat Saturn looked to her and asked, "How did she know we got killed by Galaxia, I thought we didn't tell anyone." Everyone's eyes widened at the question and Mercury came down, sitting harder then she would have normally.

Dekiko made a connection and looked at the city leader with narrowed eyes, "You are the Mayor of Rose Lake City right?"

The Regent caught the meaning and the accusation, it made perfect sense. All information pertaining to the Senshi was required to be brought to her attention, by law. Further the attacks by the other Senshi and from what she was able to gather included this 'Sailor Galaxia,' was not recent enough for it to have not been given to her yet. She had to interject, "Rose Lake City is correct, it was also where the Siren Lunar Enforcers found evidence of the Berryl faction that seemed to slip through our fingers. They clearly knew we were coming and had the ability to escape safely and well in advance of our raid. Since you seem to have information that should have been given to me a month ago, I must insist that you explain yourself."

The Old woman sighed then looked directly at Sailor Siren, then at the Regent , "I merely had not completed my investigation yet."

The Regent had made a signal out of sight of the Mayor of Rose Lake City, and responded, "You were not permitted to withhold information even for that reason, so now you will tell me exactly what you know and how you know it."

The other woman seemed nervous as she paused in thought, "we found out from our own search of the Berryl faction's hideout."

The Regent narrowed her eyes, "Either you are lying, or you are a traitor. If you performed a search then it must have been after the Enforcers left, and I know for a fact, as I was there, that they left nothing behind. Or you were there first and stole important evidence to a Siren wide conspiracy investigation before the Enforcers arrived, then failed to turn it over when informed of the raid. Thus you are a traitor who aided the Berryl faction by interfering in the raid knowingly.

The Mayor sighed and looked at her tea, then looked up smiling at Siren, "If you had not returned we would have been preparing for a direct take over by now." She sighed again as guards entered the room. "It is my own fault for this, but it matters not, soon your precious Moon Princess will be dead and Berryl will return. When next we meet you will be on your knees again, only then it will not be because we are having tea." Before the guards could grab her, or the Senshi could react she seemed to waver like a mirage and disappeared.

The Regent rubbed her head as she realized the Mayors of Poppy Forest and Orange Lily Cities had also disappeared, "So, are there any other traitors in our midst that I should know of?" When nobody on her side of the table moved she sighed and looked at the others and said, "Lets reconvene tomorrow, I will have the staff show you to your rooms for tonight. I think it best we stay here at the palace tonight instead of inviting assassination attempts."

The staff quickly came after the Regent left to guide the remaining six mayors and Siren's group to their rooms. Everyone except Mint and Lime had their own rooms, those two had to share a small room that was connected directly to Herb's one, and Herb was quite happy to find a lock on the door. Although Siren, Dekiko, Herb, Mercury, and Saturn did meet in Ranma's room while in Senshi form, they agreed there was nothing to do at this time. The meeting was cut short by a delivery of food, and by now everyone was very hungry, even Saturn could have been mistaken for a relative of Ranma or Usagi at the rate she ate.

Herb had the hardest time trying to sleep out of the group, for she had a pair of idiots that kept knocking on her door asking to see her naked. After an hour of listening to the two, she found the silence one can only find following an act of brutal violence.

While everyone was asleep a small black form jumped into Ranma's room through the window. As it approached the prone and sleeping Senshi it took notice that the girl was still transformed. The shadow could only wonder if the girl was smarter then she looked, after all, with the possibility of an assassin she still left her window open. Then again it could have been she was too tired to reverse the transformation. Either way the shadow moved closer to the girl and prepared to do what it came to do. When it was as close as it needed to be a symbol of Siren glowed from its forehead and a beam left the figure directed at Siren's Tiara, satisfied with what it had finished, it left quickly, noting Siren mumbling something about demonic fury things as she rolled over.

* * *

It wasn't until noon the next day that someone came for the group. As everyone in Sailor Siren's party followed a maid back to the meeting room, Sailor Mercury noted that the rooms for the Mayors who had stayed were once again empty. Given that they probably only had the clothes on their backs at the time this probably meant that they were simply elsewhere, but it was still possible that they had left. Her assumption that they left seemed to be confirmed when only the Regent was in the meeting room as they entered.

Yobirin-mao looked up as the door opened, she was now sitting where Siren was yesterday, and as she saw who was entering she smiled. She gestured to everyone to take a seat then told the others, "No need to stand on formality now, I am more than sure that we all are tired of it by now." Seeing no complaints as everyone sat down, she served some tea to everyone then noticed something, "Where are those two men who were with you Princess Herb? Did you leave them in your quarters?"

Before Herb could say something everyone heard a commotion and several voices from outside the room, "Pervert!" "Wait… They are men!" "Get them!" "They are cute!" "Don't let them get away!"

Finally they saw Mint and Lime dash in and shut the door behind them with panicked looks as they cried out, "Lord Herb save us!"

Herb simply pointed at a corner and commanded them, "Sit there and don't move, don't talk, and most of all don't think!"

The others in the room chuckled as Herb continued, "Honestly, you two, you were warned. What would I have done if they caught you before you could get back here? The two of you are not easy to replace, you know. What would the other Musk think if I had to report that you got kidnapped by a sea of women? There is no good way for me to give that report without dishonoring you."

As amusing as it was Yobirin-mao had to interrupt, "If you are finished Herb-san we have some business to attend to. Now Sailor Siren, I have no doubt that you are the real princess we have been seeking, even if you were born male." She smirked at the looks on their faces, "Now really, you think I am that derelict of my duties that I would not have that level of information? Unfortunately, however, we will need to satisfy the people and not just myself."

Mercury had to interject something, "You said yesterday your name is Yobirin-mao, correct?"

As the regent nodded she smiled and replied, "If you are wondering, yes I am a Mao." She saw the confused looks on some of the faces, only Dekiko and Mercury seemed unconfused, "The Mao are the same species as Luna and Artemis, the 'Moon Cats' as they like to call themselves. We have a colony up here on Siren, although we have not heard from the home world in some time, we are quite content with our lives. The humans of Siren have come to use our species name as an honorific over the years when referring to us, we have merely accepted it."

Mercury paused then steeled herself to give the information she had, "Your home world, the people on it were destroyed by one of Sailor Galaxia's minions, Sailor Tin Nyo."

Yobirin stiffened momentarily, "Perhaps she did, and we heard reports from operatives in the area that claimed she said something like that happened. We hope otherwise, however, we have accepted that there are probably not many more of our people around." Shaking her head she forced the frown that was forming into a neutral expression and continued, "Back to what we are here to talk about, we need to prove to the people that you are who you said you are. The remaining Mayors and I have managed to come to an agreement on how to do this. It will not be easy, but we have a series of tests, each more difficult then the last, and the final one being one that absolutely cannot be faked. Are you up to it?"

Sailor Siren nodded and asked, "What are the tests?"

The Regent smiled, "The first should be easy for you, it is the test of strength: You are to fight the top fighter from each city. Given your acquaintance Benika is the best on Siren aside from you I doubt you will fail at it. Since three of the Cities may be going rogue you will only have to fight six opponents, instead of the nine you would otherwise have to fight, plus Benika, the current guard champion."

Dekiko was taken aback, "When did she gain that title?"

Smiling the reply came, "Last week actually, she was in the tournament that was run to decide that position as the last champion disappeared on her last visit to Rose Lake." she sighed and continued, "I guess we can guess what happened to her now can't we." After a few moments of silence she continued, "The second test, the test of spirit, will test your ability to play a custom flute. Now I will tell you this much, the flute was yours in your past life, and it is also enchanted. You will have to use it to play a specific melody. It will unlock the room called the Chamber of Waves, however, we will not provide you the melody"

Ranma was uncertain with that one. Sure she got good enough to play the flute, but she was only good at times and usually rated as an intermediate, not a pro. She worried that if this test was this hard, what the other two were.

Yobirin noticed the uncertainty that Sailor Siren seemed to emanate. "Don't worry, you will do fine, I am sure. The next two are going to be tricky, but may be easier than that one depending on how it goes. They are the tests of Soul and Awakening. The Test of Soul is to find your old meditation chamber, and the Test of Awakening is to awaken the Spirit of the Castle." Seeing that that information had been absorbed she relaxed. With luck, she thought, it will be resolved within the next few days. The only reason the Mayors had insisted on having the 'Test of strength' in the first place, was that if she failed it, she was either an imposter, or not ready for the role of princess, especially with the looming civil war.

The group continued to chat for a few minutes before being dismissed as the Regent had things to do. The tests started tomorrow and Siren decided to get some practice in. The others scattered for various reasons. Yet Saturn was uneasy she had a premonition the night before, one she hoped didn't come to pass, yet her visions rarely proved wrong. Her Setsuna-mama had always told her that she should let the future happen, but if it worried her to talk to others. She had decided to just wait for now, and hope, that it was just a dream.

* * *

As was expected the test of strength was easy for Sailor Siren, which made her grimace - these were her people, and they were, she mentally shuddered, not good at the art. Even Benika with the training she was given was below average, for Nerima anyway. Anywhere else she would have been rated excellent, yet Ranma, being Ranma, still had to rate it harshly. Siren was disappointed that Benika had to go after the fight, it seemed, Siren thought with humor, 'A Champion's life is fraught with peril, or annoying and boring duties.'

Her mind was brought to the present as they approached a large archway with double doors. She noted the design around the door and realized that it was not a uniform pattern; it seemed to contain two lines that seemed to weave randomly intersecting each other. She was not sure why it caught her attention just that it did. The doors themselves incorporated strange runes as part of an overall design and also something that she recognized as the old moon kingdom markings for a music score. Her attention was brought away from the doors as a small group of guards appeared from down one of the hallways. Sailor Siren looked around and noticed that the way she came was a long hall that ended at this one, with the doors directly across from that hall. She then realized that the design of the hall hid the intersection making one think that it wasn't there until you arrived. The perfect place for an ambush, and great method of protecting something valuable.

The guards who approached, were walking in an honor guard formation, one guard in the middle, with two guards in front and behind. The box they were moving must have contained something valuable. Yobirin took the box from the guards and opened it. She then removed the object and carefully handed it to Siren.

It was a flute, a strange, half meter long flute; it branched like a 'Y' and was shaped like a tuning fork. The music altering holes were down both branches of the flute. The design also had an L at the top where the air was blown in. It was a flute in the regard that the end of the flute was shaped like one, yet the rest of it seemed to disagree. Further examination caused her to notice that the holes were on opposite sides of each branch where the buttons were located. As she continued to look at it she noticed, much to her annoyance, it had more buttons than a normal flute to accommodate the strange design. She tried to hold it to her lips, and it felt awkward. She repositioned her hands and tilted the flute down some and tried it. The sound that came out was not endearing, but, at least it felt right when she held it.

She continued to try playing it and eventually it started sounding better, passably good in fact. After a while she noticed something: as she played a certain note a faint glow came from the archway, at the bottom left, where the lines started. She continued trying and found she could get the glow up to the next point; it appeared the lines were resonating with what she was playing. She found it odd nobody else had noticed it yet. She kept playing and eventually figured out the pattern. She failed a dozen times to make it the full way through before having to restart due to some slip-up, but kept going. The Mayors, who had left previously, had shown up around the time when she was getting good, were about to leave when she completed it for the first time, yet she felt compelled to complete it again. This time it glowed to everyone, and it also sounded like someone or something was playing with her. Her 'echo' was clearly better yet both played perfectly and when they finished all the runes on the door glowed and it swung open.

Everyone entered the room and was astounded at what they saw. The entire room was about 50 meters each way, the fact that they entered on a platform near the top only enhanced the feeling of size. There was a railed ramp that ran around the room, and at the room's center was an enormous crystal. The cut of the crystal appeared to be a natural quartz type crystal formation; it was cylindrical and cut into small sides near top and bottom, each face's size also seemed almost randomly chosen. The crystal was not fully round, as a proper cylinder, but was octagonal. Still it was an impressive sight. As they got to the middle of the ramp they saw a golden ring around it, it was doughnut shaped and had runes running around it in a spiral.

When they reached the bottom one of the Mayors was suddenly knocked back as she got too close to the crystal. Everyone tensed as the force was strong, but not enough to kill. Sailor Siren kept going and passed through the 'barrier' point. She reached out and almost touched the crystal before pulling back uttering, "Nami-Shuuha." Yobirin smirked, knowing this was the crystal's true name, it was a secret that it was even here, but she was told this much when she took her post. Yet for the young Siren to know this, she smiled, her past life memories must be coming into focus.

* * *

Yobirin-mao was quite happy with the first two tests, from start to finish they took about eight hours and now everyone was sitting in a banquet room and eating. With the first two tests complete there were just the two final tests to prove her identity. She hoped that they could finish them today, the war had begun today, however, neither side had attacked the other yet. She had no illusion that what would be sent their way would be human.

As the regent looked around she suddenly realized that she still had to use her human form primarily for a few more years. Sailor Siren was not ready to replace her, especially if her table manners were an indication. Not that anyone was about to do something about it, most seemed to have forgotten their manners, except for Sailor Mercury, and Dekiko, and even then it was close.

She continued to eat and generally enjoyed the sitting, it had been a long time since this many people got together to eat here, and it was one of the few recent changes that were something to be welcomed in her opinion. She was quite happy to see everyone present having a good time, the roads ahead were dark ones indeed, and with the horror coming any happy time one can find is something to be treasured. She glanced at the book Dekiko had set on the table, 'The fall of the Moon Kingdom,' the accursed book itself. 'No,' she countered her thoughts; she refocused her mind the book is accurate, as it always was, the true worry that she had was not if the book was true, but if it would become reality.

She cursed Senna, that woman must have sent it with Dekiko; it was her kind of message. The worst of it was she was right. It was she who predicted that there were traitors on the council; it was she who said that Sailor Siren would return and bring a storm of change. It was she who first proved that this 'Ranma,' this boy in a girl's body, was the Hime-sama they all waited for. She watched as the one who would soon become her ruler ate and talked with the others, unaware of what was to come. Perhaps she did know and was just smart enough to enjoy herself while there was time.

The Regent glanced at the window and at the rain that was visible through it, and she sighed. She also remembered the three truths that she was raised to always know, 'The future and the past are forever linked', 'nothing was without cost', 'Utopia existed in the past.' These three truths meant nothing to her when she was young, and only now did she truly understand. 'Senna was wrong,' she looked at Sailor Siren, 'this was no storm on the horizon, it was a series of Hurricanes.' She deeply hoped that the people would survive that advent when it came. Her last sight outside before everyone left the table was of the sky clearing and the evening light reflecting off the earth, only the angle gave the Earth a reddish tint.

* * *

Three people walked down corridor after corridor in seemingly random patterns. Yet no matter what direction they seemed to take, "Damn it!" they kept ending up back at the throne room.

"Language, young Senshi," chided a very amused mao.

Sailor Siren was thankful that she didn't say, 'young lady.' She took stock of where they were, she must have led the three of them through almost every corridor in the palace, twice. Yet, this was the seventh time her instincts drew her here. She looked back at the Regent and asked for the seventh time, "Are ya sure that this isn't the room?"

The Regent smirked and shook her head, then glanced at the Mayor who had accompanied them. Unlike the other members of the council this was one she liked, she was the Mayor of Morning Glory city, and had a large fan she kept waving in front of her face, not to cool off, but to keep the grin on her face hidden. Officially she was here as an impartial judge since this test involved a lot of walking and the others were too lazy (the rest of the council), or not yet permitted (the remainder of Siren's party) to follow.

Sailor Siren was obviously upset and standing around obviously looking for some secret passage. She would give up soon, as either she would remember all the secret passages, or find nothing and move on. Secretly Yobirin hoped it would be the next trip to the throne room that Siren would find what she was looking for. She had made a bet with her friend on the council that Siren would not find the room until her eight pass through the room. The Mayor of Morning Glory bet the seventh would do it.

She saw Siren approach the large pillar behind the throne and felt the slight build up in power, she doubted Siren herself noticed. Unfortunately it had seemed her friend did as the large fan that covered her entire lower face was soon to be insufficient to hide her smirk. She looked back to see Siren facing her with eyes down as she, seemingly unconsciously, drew back her fist and brought it forward to collide with the pillar with a resounding crack. She looked up in shock, then at her fist as it was against the pillar, then a look of horror crept across her face as the pillar slowly spider cracked and then suddenly shattered into nothingness as the spell that kept the illusion was obliterated.

Siren carefully, almost comically so looked around the frame of where the pillar was and saw a passage down, she glanced into the passage then back the others. Ranma had no illusion that the council member was fighting back laughing her ass off, and the Regent looked little better, so she scratched the back of her head and claimed, "Err… I meant to do that."

That was the line as the others snapped and broke down laughing until the council member stopped and looked at the Regent and said smugly, "I guess I win the bet."

The Regent groaned as her friend literally fell to the floor laughing.

Siren on the other hand entered the secret room and noticed that the floor had a large symbol of Siren on it. She walked to the center noticing the symbol pulse with light a few times; as she got closer to the center the pulsing became faster and more visible. When she reached the center she stiffened as energy flooded her system, the last thought she had was, 'When did I get Wings?'

* * *

Sailor Siren woke up to someone gently slapping the back of her hand, her eyes blinked open and slowly came into focus. She tried to gain her bearings and tried to stand only to feel gentle hands push n her shoulders as familiar voices told her to stay seated for a moment. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them she saw where she was. She was on the throne, her throne, at least she thought it was her throne, then she wondered who Ranma was, before remembering. She remembered she was Ranma, she was Sailor Siren, she remembered that having memories shoved into her head was painful and confusing.

She heard Sailor Mercury next to her ask, "How are you feeling?"

She looked at her and sighed, "Probably the same as what Sailor Moon felt like after remembering being the Moon Princess." She heard chuckling and looked around, she saw the other Senshi present.

Sailor Moon saw the look of shock and confusion on Siren's face and smiled, "Even I felt that power up of yours." She paused and looked at the others, "We were worried so we came to help, but I can see you are," she grinned like a tiger ready to pounce, "fine, in fact," she grinned harder, "very fine in deed."

Siren looked at her in confusion then started examining herself, after a quick inventory she cried out, in a fit of déjà vu, "What the hell am I wearing!" She blinked as she felt the déjà vu, but then ignored it.

Sailor Moon seemed to change her grin to a smirk, "Why your princess clothes, now that you have awakened that form, you need to have them." To punctuate the point she shifted into her own princess form.

Everyone took that moment to examine the two princesses; Moon's dress was, as always, simple and elegant. Siren's dress was much the same, except it didn't have the trim at the top that Moon's did, instead it had opposing sine and cosine waves of red and yellow with a white backing, and the remainder of the dress was red. The border of the waves at the top was the same size as Moon's design as well.

Princess Siren's introduction to her position was interrupted by an amused Sirenian Moon Cat in regent attire; she had cleared her throat and got everyone's attention. Once everyone was looking at her she spoke, "Sorry to interrupt the bonding, but Siren-hime," She ignored the indignant look, or rather hid the enjoyment of it, "still has one more task to perform. She must awaken the castle by calling out to it."

Siren thought for a moment on how to do it, she extended her senses to hopefully reach something, and she was surprised to find something reaching back. It was behind and below her, further below than the room she was in earlier, directly below it actually. It was then that she remembered the crystal. The crystal had its own name, but the castle was different, then she knew what she had to say and groaned out, "Why must we make such annoying speeches?"

Dekiko smirked and replied, "Well Hime-sama," she was going to enjoy teasing Ranma for months with this, "It is expected that someone in a position of such high authority would have to make everything an event, and what better way to do it than with a useless, long winded, speech."

Closing her eyes Siren resigned herself, "Awaken song on the wind, and wind at my back. Carry me and my people into the distant future with hope. Shine with ever renewing rhythm and be with me always. Come alive, Myaku!" As she said the last word everyone within the Siren castle felt it. The castle awoke from its long slumber and everything seemed more alive and healthy within the grounds. Even the walls seemed whiter then they were. All within the Siren castle known as Myaku knew one thing for certain, their princess had returned at last.


	19. C16 Convalescence

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

-- Also Special thanks goes to my pre-reader J. St.C. Patrick, and everyone else at fukufics dot com

* * *

Chapter 16 - Convalescence

* * *

Super Sailor Siren dodged and weaved around countless demons as she passed through the ruins of Rose Lake City. To anyone who might have been watching, she would have been described as acting with the grace of a professional dancer with the way she was flowing, almost dancing, through the swarm of grotesque monsters. She moved with the elegance that only someone of her experience could manage. While barely breaking her stride, Siren used both of her Katana to take out targets of opportunity that were trying to slow her down. Having cut down the only remaining demon in proximity, she continued to run while thinking repeatedly to herself, 'It shouldn't be like this. This shouldn't be happening!'

Siren slowed to prepare her next attack for the ensuing wave of Youma before her, seeming unaware of a threat from behind. While she appeared distracted a lone Youma had come up behind her going for an easy kill. Its attempt was foiled before it could succeed as it was bisected and then quartered as a pair of spinning disks tore it apart from behind while Siren almost casually dodged from their path.

The first one continued onward then arced to take out a Youma far ahead that her spinning tiara had barely missed moments before, the second large disk hovered beside Siren, tilted ninety degrees and seeming almost placed as a large shield at her side. Siren seemed to ignore the disk as she combined the two katana in her hands into a single double Katana, then, almost absently, she grabbed the spinning disk, causing it to stop, and merged the two double katana into a new weapon that parodied a four bladed ninja star. Almost without pause she held the weapon to her side and threw it in a new technique, yelling out its name, "Siren Returning Surge." She watched carefully as the new weapon tore a path that allowed her to move forward towards her goal. Running as fast as she dared while maintaining the four blades of spinning death in proper control.

After the attack cleared a small path ahead of her she followed through with a follow up yell of, "Surge Breaker!" She continued to run as the attack split into twin Returning Waves that shot off in opposite directions then turned to pass Siren as she sprinted along. Concentrating on her other attacks she directed the Shadow returning waves behind her to move forward and take out stragglers that had avoided the other attacks. She ignored her worries about the weapon dependency, after all she was trained to use whatever she needed to in the pursuit of victory, and that was the core of Anything Goes.

Refocusing on her task Siren maintained her pace firing off Shocking Waves and Pulsing Waves if any enemy got too close. Unfortunately, controlling the path of five spinning blades of death took most of her focus, knowing she should slow down to better use her weapons she almost decided to dismiss her Shadow Returning Waves before realizing she was nearly at her goal. Siren redoubled her speed almost recklessly and as quickly as was possible arrived at her goal, where the second scout team's survivors were taking refuge.

The building had been a minor apartment building but now it was fortified against the attacking force. Siren's weapons remained outside clearing the nearby demons as she took a mental tally of the remaining members of the team. Frowning she realized that it appeared more had not survived than did. It wasn't that the attack was unexpected, after the first scout team was sent and disappeared plans for the attack were set up, but as much as she wished she could have come sooner she was busy with other cities that were still populated.

Siren turned back to the door and summoned her weapons, starting with the tiara which was quickly followed by both shadow weapons. Finally she summoned both true Returning Waves and returned the split swords into a single ronin blade. Absently, she finished by returning the weapon to Bo form, dismissing it as she returned to the survivors. Pondering briefly about how powerful her new form was, and its ability to cause triple threat to twin itself, she started thinking about potential for new techniques. With a repressed sigh she quickly pulled herself out of her musings; the level of analysis that she wanted to put her powers under now was more than she had the time for, even if she just took in just the basics it would rob her of a breath that she desperately needed.

Looking for Benika, but not finding her left her with a knot in her stomach. She searched for Benika's second in command and upon spotting her, walked up to the injured woman, wincing at the sight of the stump of her right arm and bandaged head. She took a deep breath as the woman gave her a weakened salute and commanded as forcefully, but as gently as she could in the circumstances, "Report." She never hated being Sailor Siren more than she did right now.

* * *

A week earlier the Sailor Senshi who were still on Siren were scattered around Siren's throne room. Dekiko was the only non-Sailor Senshi present and was keeping herself busy reading her book and comparing stories about warrior castes and warriors themselves to her friends. So it was not that unusual of a fact that Dekiko was so engrossed in her book that she seemed oblivious to the world around her. The truth being was she was less oblivious than many would think; she was just smart enough to draw not attention to herself.

Dekiko looked up from her book briefly and saw Sailor Siren pacing in front of her throne. Ranma, even as Sailor Siren, was never really a 'behind the lines commander' type. And it was showing now more than ever. Yesterday, after she found the seal that woke the castle, she was advised to send teams out to the cities to find out what damage the traitors may have done.

Shaking her head Dekiko remembered the discussion well, it was long but ultimately Siren got her way. Some of the more reckless generals in the defense force wanted to just storm the cities, Ranma, in non-Senshi form at the time, told them that if they liked running around swinging wildly that they should never have been given weapons. Needless to say a brawl quickly broke out after that comment. The generals briefly doubted her claim after being insulted. Ironically Ranma did win the argument since she never transformed for the fight. Her comment afterwards was a clincher for Ranma's idea on spying on them to see what they were doing.

Dekiko allowed the comment to repeat in her head, "A real martial artist thinks ahead, knows what their opponent will do, plans for their actions and reactions in battle, and fights out of instinct and training. The one that controls the fight wins the fight." Dekiko thought about it: it was not something Ranma would say, nor was it something spoken in her own way. As she pondered it she realized she was quoting someone. She decided to ask Ranma about it later.

Returning to the present, Dekiko looked at the others in the room, focusing on the Moon Princess, or rather the "Silver Moon Princess" to be technically accurate. Although Sailor Moon was similar to Ranma, at least in being the type of leader who wanted to be in the middle of things with her subordinates and friends, she, at least was sitting quietly. To be honest though she was looking bored, or to be more precise 'Regally Bored'. This being a state where one has passed the first five stages of boredom: Ignorance, acknowledgment, denial, acceptance, and apathy. It is at this stage where you are so apathetic about being bored that you can not even bring yourself to whine about it.

Glancing at Sailor Siren, she took note that she on the other hand looked ready to take a flying leap into battle and let loose a maelstrom of chaos and destruction upon her enemy. Dekiko smirked, she knew full well what Ranma wanted to do, and more importantly how to diffuse it. That was part of her job as royal advisor, nobody told her this, she had merely taken it as obvious fact.

Looking at Sailor Mercury, she noticed was mirroring herself in a way, only instead of a yellowing old tome, she was using her computer. She blinked as Mercury briefly blushed and stole a glance at Ranma before returning to what she was looking at. Dekiko inwardly chuckled at the apparent perverted act that she saw Mercury involved in and wondered how she could get those pictures.

She glanced sweepingly at the remaining Senshi who were still here. Saturn was standing behind Sailor Moon, looking relaxed, but since Dekiko had been around Ranma long enough, she saw how certain subtle posture clues showed her to be a coiled spring ready to strike, a stark contrast to the overly kind girl, although, she had to admit, the glaive helped her to look slightly more menacing. On the other side of the room Venus and Jupiter were in a deep discussion about their favorite topic, which of course was 'boys'. Not unsurprisingly they liked the Siren mating custom of knocking out their target, dragging them to bed and, well, ensuring they did not have the energy to flee.

The other Senshi had returned to Earth since it was at risk without defense. And now that Pluto had an idea where the enemy was, they needed to investigate the cursed springs. Keeping that in mind, some of more violent members of the Senshi, namely Uranus and Neptune, and, to a lesser extent, Mars, needed an outlet for their pent up energy, as the enemy had gone quiet. Herb and his retainers went with them as guides, just to be safe.

Fortunately for Sailor Siren, despite her return, nobody expected her to just jump back into the old role of being Princess and leader just yet, so the Regent maintained her job and title. Besides, she governed this moon for decades, and given the current problems, on both the moon and the planet, Sailor Siren would be unable to even learn how to rule for some time. Before Dekiko could analyze any more the door opened and the regent walked in.

* * *

Yobirin-mao inwardly sighed when she saw Sailor Siren in Sailor form and not Princess form, looking agitated and restless. Glancing to Princess Serenity who was looking at her with deadened eyes, she knew that the both of them were itching for some action, or at minimum some resolution to their current problems. She knew both princesses would rather leap headlong into battle than let others do it for them; Siren because of her combat loving nature, and Moon because of her desire to save everyone, plus both wanted to protect everyone from any harm. In her opinion this made them both perfect as future rulers, not to say they needed no polish, as far as she could see, both were quite the gems in the rough at the moment.

As the regent quietly approached the throne, silently asserting her feline nature, Sailor Siren sat down once more. The presently human moon cat was glad that at least the young warrior was being calm right now. Despite the desire to protect everyone being an admirable trait, right now it was a risky one. If Ranma got herself killed, the entire planet would collapse into civil war or worse. The fact it was about to do so anyway was beside the point. Needless to say if Ranma were not here then the war would be worse. The regent refocused on her tasks, to deliver her report and keep the girls here and safe from the unknown. That they would fight was inevitable, but she could at least tell them what they were running into first.

Sailor Siren looked energized, and anxious, but she sat quietly while she was told the situation by her regent, "Our initial teams have arrived at Rose Lake, Poppy Forest and Orange Lily. They are currently being extra cautious in their investigation as the cities appear to be abandoned. Since I doubt that all the cities had a full one hundred percent rate for defecting, I believe we need to find the hostages before we do anything else."

The princess of Siren sighed and rubbed her nose before commenting, "I hate this, I hate waiting on the sideline, the feeling powerlessness." She looked up, "As soon as you hear of anything, tell me immediately. "

The regent bowed and replied, "As you will. By your leave." Yobirin spun on her heel and left without waiting for permission, she made that mistake once and stood there for ten minutes until it was explained to Siren what was expected. She smiled in the memory as she left the room.

* * *

Benika remembered a few days ago when Ranma had become worried; all the initial scout teams that had been sent disappeared without a trace. She had to send in larger teams to find out what happened to the scouting parties and she, Benika, went with one to Rose Lake. Orders were clear, retreat at the first sign of trouble, unfortunately as the legendary quote says, 'no plan, no matter how good, survives contact with the enemy.'

She returned her thoughts to the present and the chaos that ensued through the forest as the group of women ran, barreling through the trees which grew in a park within Rose Lake City. Their ultimate goal was Siren's capital, with their radios being jammed by unknown forces, they had to get there, someone, anyone had to get there. Their information was critical, and the fate of Siren could hang in the balance because of it. They ran as fast as they could and still maintain their pace for as long as possible. Behind them were horrors that none of them wished to bear witness to again. Their leader, Benika, was worried. Although they saw no sign of immediate danger, she could feel it, the cold hand of death reaching towards the scouting force.

Noticing their pace was breaking up, she signaled for break, the pause giving her time to ponder what she had seen. Benika was at point in the team when they were investigating Rose Lake City. She shuddered in memory of the bodies they had found. What she assumed to be virtually the entire city's population was dead, apparently sacrificed to a ritual that summoned things that were definitely not human.

She scouted around and got her bearings, realizing that after resting they would be ten minutes from the city limits and then five hours from the capital by way of the main road. Fortunately that road was a direct path, but that would help the enemy just as well.

When she had a moment she thought back to the eerie silence that greeted them as they entered the city hall. She walked forward ignoring of her feelings of fear and anticipation, her fight or flight instincts were firmly in favor of flight at the time, however she was an elite guard, she had to resist the impulses, for if not she would disgrace not only herself but her princess, and that was not an option.

The team split up to search the building but found nothing after several hours. It was troubling, no bodies, no splats of blood, not even a paper out of place. She was getting similar reports from all over the city. By this time, four hours after the initial group entered the city, there were now over a thousand soldiers, both professional and civilian volunteers scouring the city, but nobody was found.

She moved on, there was a place left to last, intentionally left to last because of the risk, it was the stadium. The place most likely to be where a hold out would occur. Unfortunately, or fortunately all outside observation indicated that it was empty. But now with most of the city searched, it was time to check it out.

Her team moved into formation behind her as she entered the stadium, at first they found nothing unusual, empty stands, empty field, empty lockers, but then they found it, there were three dozen bodies, each looking as if it had been sacrificed in an arcane ritual as they were all organized in groups of six around six different circles drawn on the ground. Upon closer inspection they realized among the bodies were the other scout team they had come to find. She ordered her team to not touch anything and use cameras to record everything. She wished the cameras were better, but the only technology they had was behind Earth's or imported, and unfortunately these were the former, big and bulky, early generation Polaroid. Old, but they would do the job.

It worried her that there were only the thirty-six bodies, there should have been more, and yet there were no other such sites in the city. After searching for six hours, she left the city as a shift change among the searchers occurred.

She was just starting to relax in her command tent as someone rushed in. More bodies had been found, they were on the far side of the city and took her half an hour to arrive, and when she did she almost fell to her knees at the sight. What she saw made her blood run cold: almost the entire city was now accounted for, along with about ten thousand of the arcane circle that were exactly the same as those in the stadium basement.

After someone pointed to something in the dirt she called for a retreat. Nobody questioned her, and everyone who was near the city complied, as the entire group dropped what they were doing and made a hasty packing of what they brought and left for the capital. Behind them in the dirt were tracks. They were obviously bi-pedal and similar to human in gait, unfortunately, some were quite obviously inhuman. It appeared that there were now demons of some kind on Siren.

* * *

It was three days since the second team was sent and they had yet to check in. It was troubling but they were not out of time yet. If they were to take any longer then an invasion force would be sent as no more risks could be taken. Sailor Siren was no less worried about the problems the scout teams were having, unfortunately things were worse than she had expected as larger troubles had appeared.

Sailor Moon was looking at Sailor Mercury expectantly waiting for her verdict, the remaining Senshi were also in the room, but , unlike normal, Dekiko was elsewhere. After a few more key strokes and a sigh Mercury looked up, "No matter how many times I do the math involving the time change, the answer is the same. Sailor Pluto is over a day late. She should have been here yesterday."

Saturn frowned and spoke quietly, almost going unheard, "Pluto-mama would never be late if she could help it. Something must be wrong. She only seems to arrive late to Senshi meetings because she likes making an entrance."

Siren looked at the door and locked eyes with a guard who went stiff under the gaze, "Bring me the regent," she looked to the others as the guard quickly followed her orders, "there is something I gotta know."

They didn't have to wait long as the regent came into the room at a brisk but hurried pace, "Princess?"

Sailor Mercury guessing what Sailor Siren needed to know decided to ask for her, after all better to have it worded correctly, "When was the last time someone went to the Earth?"

The Regent looked confused, "Not since the banquet, once we found about possible traitors we locked down. Is there a problem?"

Sailor Siren nodded, "Pluto is late, a day late. She was supposed to give us an update on what was happening back home."

Sailor Mercury spoke up again, "would you be able to send a team over to check what is occurring in Tokyo and check for the current time delay?"

Yobirin nodded then went to leave before Siren spoke up again, "Could you also have them check up on my family," pausing as the other Senshi looked at her, "our families?"

Nodding again the regent left. For the next hour the various girls just waited, and did what they could to prepare, even so they were startled when the door opened and the regent returned. The Regent looked worried and spoke up, "We sent a few teams to Earth but from what we can tell the time shift has worsened... heavily. It is about one day on earth is twelve here."

Sailor siren, who was sitting on the throne stood up in shock, "I though me being near Sailor Moon was fixing it? It was only one day here was four there a couple months ago!"

She was ready to start screaming more when Pluto ran into the room. This had the Senshi gawking, she never ran, she always teleported if it was important. Pluto started speaking as soon as she was in the room and the others stopped talking as she spoke, "Sorry for not coming sooner, but the gates can only barely read here right now. If my guess is right then within half a day Siren time The Moon will phase completely beyond its range. And as such I'm unable to teleport around here."

* * *

Mercury noted that it was an hour since Pluto arrived with her news and they went to work figuring out the problem's cause, however it was now time to explain their findings to the others, something which neither wanted, but she chose to deliver it herself. She sighed and took a look around the room before beginning, "We think we know what is going on with the time delay, but there is no simple way to put it so we will have to explain the important points first and then what it means."

She looked around and noted that all the Sailor Senshi had their eyes on her; she wished Dekiko was here as she had grown accustomed to her new friend's presence. She began the explanation with the most important point, "First thing to remember is that Siren requires a connection to the Silver Moon to properly anchor itself to the Earth. It does this by making the connection by channeling through Sailor Siren then to Sailor Moon who is the anchor for the Silver Moon."

Minako interrupted, "Silver Moon?"

Seeing Mercury's irritation Pluto stepped up, "Sailor Moon's Moon, that was its official name in the Moon Kingdom's time."

Nodding in thanks Mercury continued, "The jamming on Earth by the Kimera is causing the time gate to not lock on properly, it is being bounced effectively to alternate universes and not our own. That is to say when Pluto is looking at where we currently are to ensure everything is all right, it causes her to see an alternate universe where everything is okay, while in our reality we could be broken and beaten. Thus the gates are useless at the moment.

Pluto interjected with irritation on her face, "Worse than useless since they cannot be trusted at all in this timeframe, even from the future looking back to this time."

Mercury continued, "As Pluto first told us, there is a safety blocking our higher level powers and it is controlled by the silver moon crystal which identifies the threat level using information provided by the time gates. With the gates blocked the crystal cannot get the needed information and assumes there is no threat. Also, although we normally could by-pass this safety the jamming is somehow blocking this way as well."

Sailor Siren at the time had to ask, "While this is all well and good, how do you explain the link improving while I was on Earth?"

Siren's sailor skirted fiancée answered, "Your family home has a magical link on it that acts as an amplifier to your powers, it does help ours but there is degradation, specifically the link between the silver moon crystal and the silver moon. Sailor Moon still has her powers but anything beyond her basic abilities may be unavailable."

To the veteran Sailor Senshi in the room this left the question about her resurrection abilities, although they hated relying on it, its absence made them concerned.

Sailor Moon looked at Sailor Siren, "It's your call, we can stay here, split up, or go home, but none of these options appeal to me."

Sailor Mercury interrupted, "I would advise against splitting the two of you up, we may be wrong in our theories and keeping the two of you together will strengthen the connection, hopefully. The problem is that we just don't know."

Venus fell into her second in command role as she snapped to her next decision, "I think Sailor Moon and Siren should stay here, and only Pluto should return to the earth right now, possibly Saturn, but I would rather she stay. We need to stabilize things here soon, but we can't neglect the Earth either."

The time guardian nodded, "The Kimera surged briefly, making a few attacks but they were contained. The damage they have done since you girls left is minimal. However, they are building their forces and preparing an attack soon. I estimate that they will continue to do so for a month, Earth time."

Sailor Moon looked thoughtful for a short time, when she finally spoke everyone recognized it as her serenity persona, even Ranma, "Can you slow them down?"

Pluto nodded at Moon after a moment in thought

Mercury thought about the problem and came up with a battle plan, "We only really need a few of us here right now, Sailor Moon, Siren, Saturn and myself are the obvious choices. The others should head back and run a war of attrition against the Kimera to keep them off balance until things here get resolved, they need the springs so that is where the others should attack their supply lines, or at least run a few selected ambushes to weaken their numbers."

Venus asked the one question that plagued everyone, "Why don't we all just go to the earth then come back? I mean the time delay is bad right? So why not use it to our advantage? After all when life gives you lemons, get outta dodge!" Everyone in the room groaned, Venus feigned ignorance, but Jupiter was sure that even she realized the goof. Her friend wasn't that bad, of that she was sure.

Mercury answered her question after she recomposed herself, "The problem is the differential between Earth and Siren, even after Sailor Siren returned to the Earth and started working with us it took time for the time difference to reverse. With the jamming if they leave now then Siren may move too far out of sync and be unable to return. "

Jupiter, who despite not completely following everything, wanted to go the direct approach, added, "Then we will need to remove the source of the jamming so we can get this all sorted out."

Sailor Siren suddenly interjected, "Jusenkyo!" The other Senshi looked at her sharply, "Where else would a device be able to hide from magic scanners and be a good place for our enemy to hide it."

Dekiko added, "Of course, a place where you could build a magical army of artificial demons undetected would be ideal."

Yobrin-mao finally found something to ask, "So, exactly what is the plan? And how will this affect the civil war that is starting up here?"

Sailor Moon made her decision, "Sailors Siren, Mercury, Saturn and I will stay to deal with Berryl's followers. Pluto, Venus and Jupiter will return to the Earth. Venus, Jupiter, and Tuxedo Kamen will defend Tokyo while the others assault Jusenkyo to take out the transmitter." Everyone nodded and muttered agreements, but then she added, "One final thing, don't take unnecessarily risks please. Stay safe." As much as they wanted to promise that to her none of them could do it as all wondered if it was theirs to promise.

* * *

Sailor Mars lay on a hill looking through binoculars at the enemy encampment trying to figure out where their enemy was keeping the jamming device, "They just couldn't make this easy, could they."

"No." Mars looked to her left and glared at Pluto, who was in the same position. Much to her annoyance she seemed to ignore the glare or not notice it.

Mars returned to her earlier task of trying to find the jamming device. She was glad there were a trio of Amazon warriors behind her, as much as the Musk wanted to help she really didn't think any of them would look anywhere other than up her skirt while she was in this position. It was worsened by the fact that they had to do this. The Amazons had been watching from this spot for weeks now, waiting for the moment to strike. Yet they seemed to have no luck finding what the Sailor Senshi needed. Neither could they find a weakness in the patrols to get closer, nor could they identify anything that could be the device. She was getting frustrated as the more she looked the more she realized she couldn't even see the one who caused the disaster and created the Kimera.

Suddenly Mars reversed her thoughts and replayed the last one. Nothing she had seen was human enough to pass as human even at this distance. She turned around and looked at a near by Amazon elder, "When you were watching them did you ever see a human that wasn't a prisoner?"

Pluto looked back clearly interested in the reply as the Elder spoke, "Sorry child, aside from a few Musk and Amazon captives we saw nothing human recently, unless you count the Phoenix people."

Mars looked at Pluto and asked, "Didn't Herb mention a crazy scientist? The one who created the Kimera?"

Pluto nodded and looked to the elder once more, "Are you sure? Perhaps in the raid that you freed the last group of captives?"

The elder thought for a moment before nodding briefly, "There was a delirious Amazon who was injured when we freed her and she mentioned seeing a fish demon in a white coat with pale blue hair, fin ears and demonic pale evil eyes. That description aside she was suppose to be human otherwise."

Both Senshi paled and the gathered warriors were nervous at this turn of events. The Sailor Senshi were Legends, nearly goddesses, and for them to be this worried was not a good thing. Mars looked hard at the elder and spoke simply, "Bring Herb here now. Things may be worse then we thought." With that the elder moved away at inhuman speeds.

Mars then looked at Pluto, "Please tell me I am overreacting here. Because I will be very happy if I am."

Pluto shook her head and turned back to continue her vigil and spoke without looking at Mars, "I hope you are too, but given the situation, I just don't know."

Mars was unable to reply so she returned to her visual scan of the enemy base, despite her dedication to her work a cold feeling took over her heart that would not leave.

* * *

That night on Siren, midnight to be exact, four confused but elated sailor suited warriors were waiting. They had, only an hour before blissfully asleep when they were jarred awake by the sudden energy surges from their planetary mana. Right now they were waiting for confirmation from the mercury computer as to what happened. Although it was unneeded because they were sure already.

Super Sailor Moon looked at Super Sailor Mercury impatiently, almost like a kid in a candy store waiting for a parent to give permission to gorge herself. Saturn was waiting patiently, too shy and proper to be as obvious in her excitement as her princess. The least excited one was Sailor Siren who was mildly annoyed at her being the only one currently without a super form.

After a few minutes typing on her computer Mercury closed it and looked to Siren, "Summon your Henshin wand." Siren complied with an unnoticed tick in her eye when the word wand was used. Mercury nodded then looked at Moon, "You should be able to use the crystal to push the wand to the next stage. Be careful though as if you push too hard it will shatter the wand and leave Siren stuck in her current form for a month while it regenerates.

"A month?!" Siren screeched, she had dealt with being locked about three months out of the last five, she had no desire to be prevented from going back to her rightful male form at her first opportunity.

Sailor Moon was worried but realized that she really had no choice, Siren needed this upgrade in power, now more then ever. Obviously the raid on the Kimera base went to plan, but now they had an unknown enemy using Berryl's Youma. And she had no desire to re-enact the last confrontation between both forces. She summoned her crystal and looked at Sailor Siren and prepared herself calling upon her serenity persona, "Are you ready Senshi of Siren?"

Sailor Siren looked at Sailor Moon, then the crystal, then her wand and finally Sailor Moon. With a sigh she nodded and watched Sailor Moon shift to her princess form, "I am prepared," she intoned.

As the Moon Princess received permission she started the push and all present watched the Henshin Wand belonging to Sailor Siren began to transform.


	20. C17 Contort

C17 Contort

Sailor Siren had never wanted so much and so little at the same time. Right now, no matter how unmanly it would have seemed to her, she wanted to break down in tears at the loss of her friend, she wanted to tear through the enemy with no regard for her own safety and exact vengeance upon them, she wanted to obliterate all who threatened who stood before her. This however was not the Siren that shortly before was dancing through demons slaughtering them with calculated precision. This was a rage induced warrior which only had one reason for not being out there, and that was seeing to the safety of these brave soldiers. And once they were safe she swore to herself vengeance would belong to her.

Collecting herself she looked at the heavily wounded current commander of this group. She dove deep into the soul of ice and with it her eyes took a hard appearance. Steadying her voice she asked, "Are your forces able to move? We need to retreat back towards the castle."

The one armed woman nodded and replied, "We can move out on your command, the only think keeping us here until now was we were too weakened to proceed. Then once we dug in they had us pinned."

Siren nodded and looked at the others as they were already making preparations to go. These were well trained soldiers, they might not have seen any actual action before this but they were trained to the point of instinct of what to do. She cleared her throat and spoke to all of them, "Take only what you need, we are less than a day to the castle by foot. Anyone who cannot maintain a marching pace must be carried, by stretcher if needed. I know this will be hard but the sooner you get there the sooner you can rest properly."

She knew that it was perhaps asking too much so she took several medics aside and told them to watch for fatigue in anyone not being carried. Once the medics began their final tasks she radioed Mercury, "How are things going over there?"

Mercury came back clearly over the communicator, "We just made it back, but the Youma have stopped attacking."

The fukued girl knew better but had to ask, "Are you sure that they…"

She was cut off by Mercury's annoyed voice, "For the last time yes. Yes they are Youma, yes the one who made them is dead. So we have no idea where they are coming from."

The Red headed sailor warrior winced and said back, "Sorry, but if it's as you said…"

Mercury shook her own head then countered, "It's ok, that fight was hard on us, but it's in the past, I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

Siren then looked around and recognized that most were nearing when they would be ready to go, she then turned back to her communicator, "We will be headed back shortly. I will call if something comes up."

Mercury nodded and cut off the communication on her end after they said their goodbyes. This lead Siren to look around and note that everyone seemed nearing completion of their preparations.

In short order the entire group left with nearly a quarter of their number being carried. Siren was on constant lookout for any more attackers, but oddly saw no more demons of any sort. The entire group was maintaining as quick a pace they could safely while carrying the injured. Worry spread throughout the group as some succumbed to exhaustion and needed to be carried.

Part way to their destination Siren made her way to the leader of her remaining forces and spoke quietly so as to not draw undue attention, "I'm worried about this. When I was on my way to you I had to fight for every step, and now…"

Her commander looked at her with her unbandaged eye and much to Siren's worry and ego it hurt, there was too much sympathy there for her liking, but delving deeper into her soul of ice once more she buried her feelings, emotions can help in battle at times, but not here, not now. For her, they were a burden that felt too hard to carry.

The march was quiet thus far and Siren was just beginning to allow herself to be lost in thought when there was shouting at the front of the column. Unfortunately it was in Siren battle talk so she turned to her commander who noticed and smiled, "They spotted the castle and we appear to have a clear path. We should be there in an hour."

Siren nodded and within minutes was able to confirm the estimate as she crested a hill and saw the gleaming castle herself. Sighing in relief she radio ahead and again got Mercury, "We are almost back, should be there in an hour."

Over her communicator she saw Mercury nodded, "We got word back from other cities and yours was the worst it seems, but there were three more that were almost as bad. The remaining are being evacuated to the capital though so it will be easier to protect them with what forces we have."

Sailor Siren was in deep thought and spoke up before Ami cut the channel, "Were there any problems in the evacuations? Were any of the survivors attacked when they were retreating?"

Mercury shook her head, "That worries me too, I think we are being herded but I just can't think of a way out of this box canyon."

Shaking her head the red haired guardian of her people came to a decision, "Talking at this distance won't resolve anything, we need to meet and see what the others have to say. I am more worried about the threats to the earth and the ones controlling the forces up here then I am with these Youma. Our power is enough to tear them apart but there are too many problems as is without remember what we are fighting before. Who knows, they might have just found a cursed spring of drowned Youma."

The genius of the senshi shook her head as she looked off screen, upwards with a longing in her eyes, "I hope so, because if that's not it then we may be neck deep and sinking fast."

There was silence for a moment before Siren lightened the mood, "I thought you liked swimming?"

Smiling Siren listened to her fiancée chuckle and retort, "I do, but what if we are in over our heads here? I am still worried."

Sailor Siren used her well known smirk that read as trouble to all around her, "Trouble, as you should know by now is where I thrive"

A laugh came from the far side of the communicator, "No, you are trouble." Unfortunately, before she could retort the line was cut off on the other end.

She could only glare at the commander of her forces as she restrained her own laughter.

* * *

After getting back to the castle Siren powered down from super to normal mode and met up with Yobrin-mao, the Moon cat in human guise guided her princess towards her chambers where Ami was waiting in normal civilian form. Ami was sitting on the bed legs over the side looking at her computer deep in thought but closed the lid when she noticed Sailor Siren enter.

Shifting back mid stride Ranma stepped into the room and took a seat next to her cold water aligned fiancée. She tried not to show her tiredness but the last few days had stressed them both, thus Ami and Yobrin-mao both picked up on it. However, neither said anything out of respect of her efforts.

Siren's advisor stepped back as Ranma sat on the bed next to Ami and turned to leave. As she exited the room she looked back at the pair and spoke, "I'll have a meal prepared, I am sure you you both are quire hungry."

After she left she ran into Dekiko who fell into step to her left side, smiling at the girl she had to ask, "Don't you have someone to distract from their troubles right now?"

Dekiko raised her right eyebrow and smiled back, "I am quite sure that Ami is more then capable of keeping Ranma, I mean, the situation well in hand."

Both allowed themselves a chuckle at their princess's expense, after all, both knew they wouldn't have been able to make the joke with either in earshot. The regent glanced at Dekiko briefly and her face went serious, "How are things going?"

Dekiko hesitated in her answer before continuing, "As well as can be expected, Moon and Saturn should return shortly with more survivors. The upgraded communication units should be delivered to the other senshi shortly. Pluto told me that they got a lead but from what I was able to pick up she seemed to be hoping she was wrong."

The pair walked in silence for some distance before reaching the destination, the palace kitchen, both glanced at each other as they entered to ensure the girls that were holding their life lines were well fed and rested.

* * *

Sailors Moon and Saturn arrived several hours later than planned due to encountering wounded citizens and soldiers thus needing to take detours. However just like Mercury and Siren there were no more Youma attacks.

As the pair walked towards their room they saw Dekiko and Yobrin-mao looking into Ranma's room. Quietly as she could she came up behind them and peeked in too and had to suppress the urge to cry out 'Ahhh' or 'How cute' at the pair in the room. As it was seeing Ranma-chan and Ami sleeping back to back with several empty food trays nearby spoke volumes. Quietly the group closed the door not noticing the slight smile come to Ami's lips.

As the group left the sleeping pair Moon looked to the regent and asked the question that was bothering her, "Any word from Earth?"

The Regent shook her head and continued forward, "Nothing since we last spoke. You seem more worried than before."

Sailor Moon nodded, "If Pluto and Mars are worried then I know I have every reason to be as well. The two of them are the ones that have gotten us warnings before." She sighed before continuing, "This enemy has out flanked us every time we have moved since this began, it's like they know our every move, or know us better then we know ourselves."

At this time Saturn spoke up reminding everyone that she was there, "Siren-sensei said once that you learn more about yourself and your enemies more easily when you lose then when you win."

Dekiko sighed loudly to draw attention to herself, "The question then is who would know this much about you and how you fight?"

Unfortunately nobody held an answer for her, or themselves. However Sailor Moon could only reply, "Nobody living, at least nobody that should be attacking."

Yobrin-mao sighed, "So all we can do now is wait until they appear. At least the castle is properly defended, even given the enemy we face, we should be able to hold them back."

As they approached their own quarters each bid good night as they went to their respective rooms. It did not take long for either Moon or Saturn to find sleep, not that the other two lasted much longer. Luck was theirs as they would need such sleep in the day to come.

* * *

On Earth Tuxedo Kamen roamed Juuban alone, it was his watch for attacks, and he was being careful, as attacks seemed to have dried up recently. However as he was about to land he was caught in an explosion that blew him clear off the fourth story building he was about to land on.

Crashing into a parked car roughly causing it to nearly fold from the collision he wasted little time in escaping the wreckage. It was then that he noticed that he was surrounded completely. Had he help he might have risked a straight fight, but now he was out matched.

Moving he quickly tried to escape or failing that use the senshi communicator he had to hit the emergency call button. Dodging and weaving through the coming onslaught of attacks he moved as quickly as he could. Attack after attack the enemy kept coming. The enemy may not have been strong, but they were plentiful. All low level Kimera, no general level ones in sight.

Knowing the risks he opted to escalate since he could not hold out like this, reaching within himself he threw off the Tuxedo Kamen costume and brought forth his true form of Endymion and continued onward. Unleashing as many attacks as quickly as he could he had finally made enough room that he felt he would be able to call for help. Unfortunately as soon as he pulled out his communicator an attack from an unknown source struck. Looking to its source he found his heart sinking and eyes' widening. Muttering quietly to himself he could only utter, "It can't be." Momentarily ignoring his burned but healing arm and the wreckage remnants of his salvation he knew his fate. He met it before. But what stood before him was a remainder of a past he wished forever forgotten.

At this time the Kimera had regrouped and surrounded him but had not attacked, The figure leaped gracefully from the roof above and landed before him. Unsure of himself he lashed out but his sword was knocked away and he found himself thrown back into the crowd of Kimera behind him.

Smiling darkly the figure stalked forward shaking its head, "Really father I would have expected better."

Endymion shook his head and tried to move but was pinned too well, "You can't exist, it's not possible."

The dark smile deepened and the figure continued to speak, "You and me both know it is indeed possible. After all there were plenty of chances lots of time." Then the smile turned feral, "and magic"

Fear griped at his heart, the figure before him who he could easily see was female, he could now easily identify as wearing an outfit that marked her as a Sailor Senshi. The thing that caused him the most fear was despite her calling him father she was not who Usagi would have referred to as the spore. His voice cracked as he spoke hoping to draw this out so that the others would arrive, by now he was late to report in, "Your timeline was erased, it doesn't exist."

"Really father do you think that even Sailor Moon could do that?" Her eyes narrowed, "Buying time too." Her feral smile turned into a grin, "I know you better then you know yourself father. Now then, as nice as this chat was, I best get to the point, I have come to collect something, and you will give it to me, willing or not."

Reaching forward she held her hand over his heart as if she were trying to feel the beat when he felt it. His attempts to struggle intensified when he realized what she was doing. He tried to scream but found it too late, he saw her hand plunge gently into his torso then she removed it with the Golden Crystal. Without it he knew he would fade, it was how his connection to it worked. And yet it was perhaps not what was expected. Even as he felt his awareness slip he heard a brief chanting coming from the girl.

After Endymion's body disappeared she looked at the crystal and spoke to it, "Silly father, only girls can be Sailor Senshi." She grinned again as she felt the fear emanate from it, kissing the stone briefly she placed it before her chest in the center of her bow where a broach appeared to hold it. "Now, it's time to get to work."

Looking around at the various Kimera loitering waiting orders she barked them out, "Run amok, slaughter all you can!" Turning to walk away she knew that the distraction was temporary at best, but she also knew it was unneeded. She looked at her wrist and frowned at the golden reflection as she knew the price of her life. Sighing she went to her next act, and faded from existence as if she were never there to begin with.

* * *

The next morning held most of the senshi except: Pluto, Mars, and Venus meeting in the Siren throne room. Sailor Moon was barely keeping herself from tears as she had felt the end of Mamoru and the report of him missing had done little to ease her worry. Siren on the other hand seemed more concerned.

Looking at Uranus she had to ask, "You are sure they were just rampaging? Not after anything?"

Uranus shook her head, "We think they got to Kamen before their rampage since we had been intercepted on route to help. Normally one or two of them are harder than that to feel out, but there were thousands of them out there, and they stopped being coordinated after a point, as if their orders were changed from stopping us to…"

Sailor Neptune spoke up after Uranus trailed off, "Needless to say we are lucky that they seemed limited to a small area, otherwise the loss of life would be worse."

Regardless what anyone would say about the pair, they may have felt the ends justified the means, but they never felt good about any loss of life, no matter how trivial.

Silence remained in the room as there was little they could do now, Usagi was certain that some part of him was still alive so it would need to be recovered before they tried anything else for him. Worse was the fact that the Kimera had gone as silent as the Youma, even the Jyusenkyo base had been abandoned overnight.

Breaking the silence Sailor Siren turned to the Regent, "How are the defences coming along?"

Youbrin-mao restrained a sigh, she was getting tired of that question and everyone seemed intent on asking it all the time, "As well as can be expected. Given the nature of the enemy we are now as ready as we are going to be. But the fact is simple that our weapons have limited effect. Which means…"

Uranus spoke up, "Which means you need us, or at least some of us to stay here to fight since they will win if we don't."

The Regent nodded, "Correct, we can hold out here for some time with your aid, but our supplies are not indefinite. Worst case we can abandon Siren and retreat to Earth, it might even be prudent."

Everyone turned to Sailor Mercury when she added, "Maybe, but this is still our best location of defense, I am looking into creating a teleport cage." She typed away at her computer without looking up, "If we can setup one we should be able to protect this place with a smaller force, or at least buy some time."

Sailor Jupiter's eye twitched, "Sounds good, but just one question, what's a teleport cage?!"

Sailor Mercury blushed for a moment, "It's a sub-dimensional location that all teleports that do not follow certain methods and procedures capture and reroute to that location." Seeing the flat looks she blushed worse, "If they don't use our door, then they don't get in, and get trapped."

Whatever else was going to be said was interrupted by an explosion from outside the castle and shockwaves turning everyone's heads. As the Sailor Suited Warriors prepared themselves for battle Siren took in the information supplied by a soldier who just arrived in the room to explain the situation.

* * *

Waves upon waves of Youma and Kimera were attacking the Castle from all directions, and the Senshi were fighting valiantly to hold them off but from where ever they were coming from the supply seemed endless. Siren was racking up the most kills if only because she had the build for a fight like this, not that the others were any less helpful.

Siren noticed something on the fourth hour of fighting and made her way towards an exhausted Mercury, "Is it me or are these things getting tougher."

Mercury unleashed an attack upon a group of advancing Youma before answering, "It's not just you, the Youma are getting stronger, and the Kimera are slowly being replaced by stronger and stronger types."

Siren Cursed loudly, before noting a Youma getting too close, she eyed a statue next to her and with a pair of swift round house kicks, the first to break it off its base and the second the send it toward the doomed demon. She then willed her five flying weapons to deal with the immediate threat of an advancing line.

Mercury covered her back by launching a Shine Aqua Illusion behind Siren and cleared out another line that way. She then generated a sword made of pure Ice and threw it into a coming Youma of considerable size, killing it immediately. The two worked in tandem fighting the onslaught of horrors both knowing that if they gave any ground it would be hopeless. Hearing Siren curse she turned and knew things had gotten worse.

The red haired warrior was looking up at a figure hovering above the coming enemy forces. It was not hard for the blue haired genius to identify this combatant; she could not resist the sharp intake of breath and saying the name that was burned to her mind, "Ryuuko!"

Mercury knew things were bad, but then this was why she and Siren were paired up, "Shabon Spray!"

Siren then landed next to Mercury in the mist as they both took cover, "Ideas?"

The intelligent warrior answered but knew the response, "Run?" Her answer was a flat look.

Hearing the attacks of Siren's still killing demons she pondered a moment on what to do, but she was pulled out of her thoughts when she was asked, "Can you make reflections?" After a moment Siren clarified, I mean like a mirror, 'cause you know ice if flat is reflective right.

Frowning Mercury shook her head, "No, ice isn't normally reflective, unless…" thinking about ice's refractive properties, "I don't know, and we don't have the time to experiment."

Cursing quietly Sailor Siren then went to 'Plan B,' "Can you freeze her, hold her just for a few seconds?"

Mercury nodded and Siren smiled, "Do it, and leave the rest to me."

Both cleared the mist that shrouded their location from opposite directions, Sailor Siren appeared to be her main target as she turned that way immediately, what she missed was the other senshi.

Ryuuko dodged attacks from both as Sailor Mercury unleashed attack with her harp and Sailor Siren kept her moving. While she kept their main focus she pressed her forces forward, while they were dwindling, she knew they would be over whelmed soon, all she needed to do now was kill them. Grinning darkly and widely she yelled out, "Your end comes now, and know that you never stood a chance."

Siren willed her attacks to move, even as she danced around the Youma that had advanced upon her position she could only use her Tiara for defense as all other attacks were either unavailable or too risky, except shocking wave, which was something she was holding in reserve. Even with the risk she knew what she needed to do.

Mercury saw it, the opening and the right time, so she called upon the power of her attack, "Shine Aqua Illusion."

Ryuuko turned her head and saw the attack coming from behind, she tried to dodge but failed as her entire left side of her body was turned to a block of ice. Now her eyes widened as she started her quickly accelerating fall. However, it was not the landing that she knew would doom her, it was the fact she saw all of Siren's blades flying towards her.

Ryuuko hung momentarily in mid air as she was bisected then quartered. Then quickly each piece was cut in half, finally the Tiara came and split her head in two vertically. Without screaming the remains of the once powerful Kimera general fell slowly turning to dust.

While Ryuuko dust fell the red headed senshi made her way towards Mercury. The worst may seem over for now, but the battle was still raging. Slowly as time wore on the other senshi made their way towards their battle.

Just as victory seemed assured and all their allies had arrived, their hopes were crushed by an array of explosions that threw them all backwards. Eventually they were forced back to the gates of the castle when the attack stopped.

Sailor Moon looked around before asking anyone who would answer, "Just where is that attack coming from?"

To her horror a girl faded into existence in front of the group with her arms folded across her chest. However her appearance seemed to be a dark parody of Sailor Siren, both were red heads true and both wore seifuku that was a symbol of this system's senshi, but that was where the parallel ended, where her senshi had white leotards this one had black, Everything else from the skirt to her knee high boots were grey.

Sailor Jupiter jumped in front of Moon and demanded, "Just who are you?"

The unknown before them smiled while unfolding her arms, "Isn't it obvious?"

Sailor Moon collapsed on the ground crying, "Noooo!!!"

Mercury confirmed the suspicion, "It's the Golden Crystal!"

The aggressive outer Senshi pair moved to defend their princess. When they did Uranus called out, "How did scum like you get it?"

The girl frowned, "I took it from father, and as I told him, only girls can be Sailor Senshi."

Moon looked up, "If Endymion is your father then your mother is…"

Smiling at the other girl's plight she answered, "Beryl."

Sailor Jupiter yelled back, "Impossible, that entire timeline was erased."

"Then why do you remember?"

Before the argument could continue a voice rang across the would be battle field, "Enough, return at once Sailor Terra, or I will remove your existence myself."

Smiling Sailor Terra answered, "As you wish Chaos-sama, until next time ladies!" Then she vanished as seamlessly as she appeared.


	21. C18 Collapse

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

- Also Special thanks goes to my pre reader Cheb from fukufics dot com

---

C 18 - Collapse

---

It had been three days since the fight, and people started returning home. The state of the once beautiful castle and cities was crushing to everyone. Especially Ranma, although a boy, or rather tomboy at the moment, and preferring to not refer to most things as such, it still clawed at his soul.

Currently Ranma was in female form staring at her reflection in a mirror in her private bathroom. A quick splash of warm water on her hand and boy type was looking back into his eyes, then after yet another splash of cold girl type. He found himself doing this often recently when things were calm. Finally finished she transformed into princess form and left to give yet another speech to invigorate the crowds.

Leaving the facilities she pointedly ignored the honor guard, all of them knew if there was a threat to her life the best they could hope to accomplish was to die giving her seconds to counter attack. Otherwise they would be able to handle it, assuming it got that close. She didn't want that, but nobody listened to that desire.

As she walked down the hall she passed a room with Uranus and Neptune standing guard outside. Pausing a moment she asked, "How is she."

A tired and exhausted Uranus looked up at her and bit back an angry retort; she was forcing herself to remember that on this moon Ranma was the princess, worse yet she still had people that followed her. It was a realization that she came to in the last few days, and something that all her soul wanted to fight. All the senshi but this short red haired girl before her princesses of dead civilizations, she still had hers. Right now here on Siren her word was essentially law, especially now, especially with, "She is asleep, finally, I didn't think it was possible to cry that much without dehydrating and passing out."

Not looking thrilled herself Ranma nodded, "I found that out myself, it's our healing that does it. I assume that the others are in there with her?"

Neptune tilted her head and seemed little better off then Uranus, "Some are, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are, Mercury was with Dekiko last I saw, but I couldn't understand what they were saying, I think they were headed to the library. Saturn is on Earth right now with your family, why I don't know, but I think it makes her feel helpful. She will probably get more rest there then the rest of us here." She sighed and shook her head, "Pluto, well she could be anywhere, but my guess is the gates."

Ranma nodded, inside she knew that the gates was meaning the Time Gates, however the last while every strength the senshi had had been proven vulnerable so they referred to some things in reference and code, the idea is its obvious if you know, but confusing if you don't. And the walls had ears right now. Besides according to Pluto even Galaxia would have a hard time finding the gates, but who knew when it came to Chaos, so better refer to them in vague terms, if she knew they were there, there was no helping the fact, if she didn't, well no sense tipping her off to something they could use later.

Refocusing on where she was going she started walking again only to briefly pause and look over her shoulder, "I'll be back later. I gotta get the survivors to shake their fears and focus on rebuilding. We have enough problems as it is without people rioting."

Uranus smiled before briefly grinning, "Think you can handle it?"

Nodding the red head replied back, "I got lots of practice on keeping people from going nuts just from keeping my friends from killing each other back in Nerima. I should be able to keep people who don't have it out for each other focused." She turned back and kept walking, still Uranus heard her final statement, "Fear is still going to be a problem, all that I can do is to keep them busy for now."

---

Ranma walked into the throne room with her advisors and guards in tow. After collapsing on to the oversized raised chair she tried to calm herself. Channeling emotions was always easier as a girl in the past, otherwise she would be sulking in male form in her room. Yet she could feel the wounded castle trying to ease her burden, by reminding her of happier times in the Silver Millennium. She knew she had been allowing the constant danger to dictate when she was male way too much, but there was precious little that could be done. Once the current crisis was over she was going to go back to earth as a guy and challenge every dojo in Japan that time allowed. She knew she really needed her male time, and a few seconds here and there weren't helping.

Looking up she decided to get this over with, "Report, what are the status of the cities?"

Dekiko glanced at the papers in her hand and winced, "As much as I hate to say it, most of the cities will take decades to rebuild, not to mention repopulate. The least damaged was the one with most of our spiritual connections, and temples." She paused, "Still there was some damage. Daisy Valley is still intact enough that we should be able to move most of the population there without much trouble, however, the main temples were attacked directly."

This was the first most people in the room heard of this so whispering went around before Dekiko continued, "There were no survivors that we could find, however, in the current crisis they may simply still be in hiding in a cellar or lost in the masses. High Priestess Senna was confirmed dead though." The last statement lead the room to silence before Ranma sighed tiredly.

"Alright, I guess we have little choice, whatever city is second to least damaged over all will be our priority. We will focus more on housing and basic needs. Once people have roofs over their heads and full stomachs we will worry about other things then. Let Daisy Valley's people know we are not abandoning them because of this in any way you can think of, but we need a second city for all the homeless outside, and the old cities are too wreaked to just let them go back as yet. Prepare the cities for defenses, have walls built, they should help coral any stray demons that appear, and if the enemy is anywhere near as smart as I think they are they left surprises."

As everyone except Siren left the room she sat on her throne pondering how far her life has come since this all started, she reached forward and looked at her hand, briefly smiled at something that she was unsure of herself before frowning. After about a minute she sighed loudly, "Are you just going to lean against the back of my throne all day?"

Pluto then stepped around it and smiled, "Was just wondering if you noticed I was here?" She paused a moment, "So when are you going to tell them."

Ranma looked genuinely confused, "Tell who what?"

Pluto looked at her from behind her own seemingly ancient piercing red eyes, and clearly through Ranma's own blue eyes, "Are you sure you don't know. You can't keep it secret for long. Secrets always cause trouble in the long run, you should know this well. Perhaps you are even keeping secrets from yourself?"

A wave of unidentified emotion seemed to waved through her face before she returned the look to the green haired woman, "These last few days have been worse than you can imagine." She inclined her head, "When you look at me who do you see?"

Realization dawned on Pluto, "So that's the problem, you remembered that?"

Glaring with intense hatred at her verbal nemesis, "Of course I did, you know full well how I did too."

"The Castle."

Nodding the princess of Siren looked hard at Pluto, "All of us have castles, and our castles are a gift from our once noble blood." The irony Ranma felt was obvious with the word noble. "I also remember some things that don't add up."

"You were told once that your family was using selective breeding to bring about your resurrection correct?" seeing the nod Pluto continued, "You were not the only one." Ranma's eyes widened, "only Ami, Rei, and Minako did not come about artificially, the others all had families or other factors that pulled what yours did, unfortunately what they did when they did that was to alter fate. I will tell you this now because you need to hear this, I have looked ahead and our trials are only going to get worse. I cannot be accurate because of factors that I can not reveal just yet, however fate is a cruel mistress, one that I am bound to obey. You see Usagi's mother had a falling out with her parents over her marriage, I won't bore you with irrelevant, private, and unnecessary details, but the result was Usagi was born a generation too early. Keep in mind that time is not linear, as such balance needed to be kept. This caused a chain reaction causing, well… I hesitate to use the word chaos as it would be confused our current enemy. However random elements were created that tweaked various events. I could go into details for every senshi but let's stick to you and your family."

Seeing the girl interested she continued, "Let's start with the big question that has been bothering you for the last month or so, and has been worse since Sailor Terra attacked. You are in this life born a boy yet still transform into a Sailor Senshi right? There for if you cured your Jusenkyo curse you can't be one because as Sailor Terra said only girls can be Sailor Senshi. Well as with all things this is true but it's also false. You see since Jusenkyo did happen it allowed you be a girl and thus be a Sailor Senshi. Now before we argue semantics of what ifs I will tell you that there are a number of ways that a gender change can happen, so Jusenkyo is far from alone. It possible that your powers alone might have done it, even I cannot see that in the gate. When it comes to information like that it's not all that useful. However there are two things you need to know. Mamoru was every bit as powerful as Sailor Moon, when at his full strength, so having our planetary connections as males does not make us weaker. The ultimate truth is that being a Sailor Senshi is a title, our princess forms are all far stronger, yet we only have two awake princess. This should lead to your next question."

Looking unsure Ranma shuddered inwardly almost not wanting to ask this, but did any way, "Why do I need to become a girl?"

Pluto shook her head, "Close but not quite."

Ranma was even more confused but tried again, "If I need or should be a girl now why was I born a boy?"

Nodding, "Close enough, and the answer is Jusenkyo"

"Jusenkyo?"

"Yes the perfect place to hide our enemies base of operations, however, one that you identified because you had been there. Your life was what fate used to balance the sins of those who came before to create you." Ranma was about to say something but Pluto cut her off with a wave of her am, "I know what you are going to say so save it, your eyes tell it all. You are right you shouldn't have to have no choice in this, it's your life. However fate is dominated by people making decisions and for good or ill there can be no light without darkness."

"So you are saying that Beryl escaped when she did, all those battles I was unaware of happened because Usagi was born early, that all that horror is because she was too much potential good and needed evil to beat her down?"

"Yes, and in a way I think she understands this. Recall if you can that the senshi 'erased that time line' and 'forgot' their powers. There was peace and no big and real evil then. And all their other trials came due to some other problem, the dark moon was self made, Ail and Ann were here because their tree needed to be purified, even if they didn't know at the time. Ironic with them that they were practically the same as us."

Ranma furrowed her brows in confusion, "What do you mean… No you are not serious."

Pluto nodded, "Though I am unsure how Yggdrasil will respond to Sailor Terra, likely it will reject her. She is already on borrowed time. She obviously has a Sailor Crystal but that means little in the long run. Also do not tell the others about their trees, they have more problems than they can handle now as it is."

Deciding she left enough for the redhead to chew on she got up to leave but was stopped by Ranma saying her name.

"Who or what am I really?"

"Others have already tried their hands at answering that. Now it's up to you. However, don't take too long. Doors that are open now may close later, and even if new ones open you may not like them." With that she faded from sight in a short ranged teleport. She was still unable to reach earth directly from Siren, but the time she could again was getting closer.

Looking at her hand once again Ranma became lost in thought, "I need to find out why I have to be girl to be a senshi, otherwise…" Ranma shook her head. Her powers may be balanced now to let her become male anytime she isn't a Sailor Senshi, but she still felt like she was losing something and she couldn't figure out what.

---

Ranma was in male form for the first time staying any length of time, sitting with the other Sailor Senshi, all in civilian forms; except Pluto and Saturn who remained at the time gates and Ranma's family home respectively. Usagi's eyes were still red but nobody was faulting her, what happened to Mamoru was the final straw for the over stressed girl. She looked around her and nodded at Minako.

The other blond spoke up after all eyes were on her, "We need to attack, if we let them keep building Kimera then we will be pressed harder and someone else may be next. We need to stop their production of Kimera."

Ranma's eyes hardened, "So we are hitting Jusenkyo."

More than a few of the others grinned in satisfaction at the prospect of hitting them back now. While they must have used most of their forces. Makoto then asked a question that suddenly bothered her, "Who is going?"

Ami spoke up, "Usagi is refusing to sit this one out plus Ranma has to stay near her and knows the area, so they are in. Rei is in because she was there and also knows the area. I have to go in case something comes up and we need to cover an escape. Michiru and Haruka will stay at Ranma's family's home, with Hotaru as protectors there and reinforcements we may need. This leaves Makoto and Minako to stay here and guard the survivors from any stray Youma. And as per usual Pluto is at the gates."

Haruka was the first to respond beating out Makoto, "Why are we sitting on the side lines?"

Ami sighed, "While you, Michiru and Hotaru would be ideal for this type of attack, we also have to accept that the enemy have made a habit of constantly blindsiding us. There is also more. Remember the false Senshi we had to face? The ones that Chaos used when she possessed Galaxia? Rei and Setsuna identified the one making the Kimera as…" she paused and looked apologizing with her eyes for this, "as Sailor Aluminum Siren"

Usagi collected herself and spoke up, "We do not know how she is alive again, or how she reclaimed the stolen powers of Sailor Mermaid. But we need to attack her, and stop her at any cost." She closed her eyes and looked away, unable to meet the eyes of Ami and Makoto.

Ranma who was silent spoke up, "Why is she using my name?"

His answer came from Ami, "Probably because this moon was a secret project, thus few knew of it out of the planets we were in contact with back during the Silver Millennium. When she chose her name she didn't want to just take the name of the one she killed to take their powers. Perhaps it was even given to her, I can only guess but I doubt it was intentional."

Makoto found a pause to interject so that Ranma couldn't find a reason to sulk again, like both he/she and Usagi had been doing for the last few days, "It doesn't matter, we have an enemy before us, we can either stand and fight or run, but if we run the innocent die."

Rei shook her head, "There is no choice, we fight, and if we eliminate the Kimera factory then we can deal with the Youma and Chaos."

Ranma nodded along with the others, "Two questions, first is don't I need to stay to anchor this place, and second when do we attack?"

The Senshi of Mercury responded, "To answer the first no we think you and Usagi being here is causing the Siren Moon to drift further out of position, this is due to Usagi not being able to fully link with the Silver Moon. Further if my calculations are correct the ideal situation is both of you being in Japan or another node that links to Siren, which only exists on Earth. Thus its ideal for both of you to return now."

Michiru raised an eyebrow, "Meaning we were on a wild goose chase in moving these two around all this time?"

Ami shook her head, "No our guesses were logical, just lacked what we know now. However to answer Ranma's second question…"

Minako stood up, "We do this in a week. Their guard is weak now, but they would expect us to either wait for the next attack and defend, or attack now, waiting is a tactically weak idea normally, but now it will give us the element of surprise."

One by one each person in the room nodded in agreement. Worry was evident on everyone's faces, especially Ranma. Yet, none would call him on it. He had far more at stake than the others did, they may have been responsible for protecting the earth, but they did so on their own, they were only accountable to themselves for any decisions they made, Ranma had people that specifically were relying on their princess, on Sailor Siren to be their shield. However, now their protector needed to leave them to protect them from afar.

Usagi looked at Ranma seriously, "Ranma please take the next few days easy, we will need you at your best, not exhausted from trying to take on too much for yourself. I can tell you from personal expeiance it only leaves you feeling too weak and ashamed when your strength is truly needed."

Ranma looked a way not wanting to admit any weakness, but eventually nodded in acceptance.

Ami sighed, "Now that that's out of the way Ranma you should change back, I think we could all use some food."

Grinning at the thought of food both Ranma and Usagi got up followed by the others, Ranma changed with a splash of water in Usagi's bathroom sink, as she looked up into the mirror she sighed at the reflection in the dim lighting. Looking at the reflection once more she turned off the lights and left the room swearing to herself that once the people were safe she would tell them the truth. The only things to worry now was would they still want her or accept him for that matter, and if they could would they accept a prince instead of a princess.

---

Sailor Siren stood with the other senshi of the strike team on the cliff overlooking Jusenkyo, it was the same cliff that so long ago she had accidently knocked Ryoga off of what seemed a life time ago. Now she had returned, and despite knowing a cure was within her grasp she would have to ignore it, at least for now. There were more important problems to deal with right now. She glanced to the other senshi crouching around her and whispered a reminder that none of them truly needed, but she felt needed repeating anyway, "Remember what those pools are, I don't know if our magic is stronger or not so don't fall in."

Moon looked at Siren in concern, "Same goes for you."

Nodding the senshi faded back from the cliff and prepared to attack, a side attack might normally be a good idea but now it would mean jumping into Jusenkyo and nobody thought that was a good idea. The four trudged along in circles trying to get close to the enemy camp but there came a point they realized they needed help.

Mars looked at Mercury and Moon and stated, "We need Saturn, a few Silence glaive surprises should do the trick."

Moon looked pensive for a moment before looking at Siren. She closed her eyes and nodded, her family could still run to the castle on her moon if needed.

Sailor Moon lifted her communicator and pressed a button, "Saturn." She waited a moment then repeated, "Saturn." The four looked at each other in worry, suddenly Moons communicator beeped and displayed Neptune's symbol.

The four shared another look, the same thought ran through their heads, Not good, that was the signal for their reinforcements being busy.

---

Sailor Uranus cursed silently as she held a bleeding arm while Saturn healed it. She knew the attack should be starting about now but she had no way to help as Tokyo seemed to be a youma filled mad house. Well fun house seemed more accurate as it appeared that most of their opponents were illusions, they might not be able to do real damage to them but there was too much to cover. Fortunately by now most of Tokyo was damaged enough that an evacuation order went out and even Siren's family left for the moon.

Suddenly a sugary voice was heard from all around them, "Curious curious little toys, seeing you play will make my day."

Uranus gripped the space sword in her off hand as Saturn was still healing her main, "Show yourself coward."

The voice giggled as a number of Youma charged Neptune, however she had used the mirror's powers to divine the correct one and blasted it as the others shattered with it. "Round and Round we will go. After all you must pay

Another two Youma charged their position as Saturn finished healing the arm, Uranus wasted no time and nailed both Youma with a single attack only to see Saturn swing her glave towards her head. Beliving something wrong she ducked as what she thought was her daughter was a youma under an illusion to grant that appearance; fortunately the real one had bisected the fake.

Neptune landed next to the two and was worried she knew that although Youma were weak, they should not be this strong. She brought out her mirror to scry where the next attack would be coming from.

Uranus growled again as she heard the apparent leader's voice, "Mirror Mirror in thy hand. Where will you land?"

Both turned to Neptune who had a look of pure shock as she looked down just in time for the ground under her to briefly collapse then in a flash of white light explode sending Saturn through three parked cars in a lot across the street causing them to fly into other cars causing a domino effect, where as Uranus was blown through two buildings and Neptune crashing into the ground harder than the others, after four bounces across pavement for half a kilometer she crashed into a marble statue shattering it.

The three had to quickly pull themselves together and regroup obviously far worse condition then they wished they were in moments ago.

Glancing at each other and the newest batch of Youma they all prepared themselves, Saturn started healing Neptune while Uranus who was in better condition took pot shots at the enemy. Most missed but there were a few lucky hits.

Of course their unseen opponent had to get in a comment, "Blast blast with all you have. Soon I'll turn you all to sand."

Uranus retorted, "That's the lamest line yet, you need better material."

The other voice seemed unaffected but did stop her rhyming briefly, "Doesn't matter anyway, when you die, you can't complain anymore."

Uranus was getting frustrated, and tired, this was going on too long, sooner or later one of them will make a mistake. She was alerted to a problem by the beeping of Saturn's communicator, followed by Moon's voice, after a pause and a second request Neptune sent the reply. There was nothing to do for them, the lines were drawn already, and the dice cast. It was all a matter of who would win on Moon's team now.

---

The battle was long and hard as they were surrounded the sailor suited warriors were all in eternal form and battled as hard as they could. However, the false Sailor Senshi had them penned in on all sides. Their only hope was to take her out then they could more easily finish off Kimera in the confusion. Sailor Siren knew that and Mars and Mercury both knew that Sailor Moon was the best choice to finish off this enemy of theirs. Even Sailor Moon knew all this, and she knew what was going to happen next, Siren had just opened a hole in the enemy lines with her shadow weapons which also kept that hole open.

"Mercury, Mars can you charge my weapons?"

Mars paused after an attack, "What? Why?"

Mercury had grasped one of the offered Katana and was charging it with her powers, "You won't have long with this, they are built to handle your powers not ours."

Siren nodded and looked at Mars, "One attack should be all I need, I'll hold them off, and you get to their leader."

Sailor Moon saw the look in her eyes, she saw that look before, and it was when Jupiter stayed behind to slow down the enemy on her way to Beryl. She wanted to speak, and protest, but in her heart she knew what needed to be done. She covered Mars as she took up her chance to charge the second weapon and Siren kept the door open, but it would not hold for long.

Just as Mars turned to Moon both nodded then Moon ordered Siren, "Don't die."

Siren smirked, merged her weapons, "Just be quick on your job, so you don't have to worry. With that the group split up the three managed to escape the narrowing hole in the enemies' defensive ring around them. They ran as fast as they could but it took them almost ten minutes to reach their enemy, Sailor Aluminum Siren.

She was not the same woman they remembered; she looked more fish like, far more grotesque. Sailor Moon and the false Siren stared at each other, Moon with a look of pure determination and her opponent one of madness, but still a gleam of intelligence. The false one looked at moon and smirked, "Now little girl where is that other girl that was with you, the one who shares my name?"

Mercury was more worried now, this was not their old enemy, this was something else. She scanned her with her computer and her eyes widened, even in her old records of the original showed that the bracers held some form of senshi power, even if she had no star seed or sailor crystal. But this twisted creature had something else, "Sailor Moon, She's a powered up Super Youma! We've been tricked."

The Super Youma smiled, "You are correct young girl, but remember we were more powerful in the Silver Millennium then you were. Yet how times change. Still…" She raised her arms showing the bracers, "Unlike normal Youma there is a reason we are special, unique. You might even live long enough to find out." Grinning madly and wider then a human face allowed, she almost seemed to salivate, "Provided you can escape me. And I thirst for your precious sailor crystals."

Both sides in the fight took their positions and prepared to do battle, Locking her eyes on to the target, Sailor Moon got into her usual pose and opted to mock her enemy , "For killing countless people, for creating an army of soulless demons…" As she was speaking sounds around them seemed to quiet except for a steadily picking up wind pulling in towards the direction they just came from. "For all the grief and sadness you have caused, In the name of the Moon…" It was clear to the others that she was not being affected by the near fifty kilometer per hour winds, she was shaking still, in a pure rage that they had never seen in their princess, they knew the loss of Mamoru hurt her they just didn't think it put her over the edge, " I'll tear you in two." As if to punctuate her statement a monster of a storm seemed to annihilate over half of the Kimera with what appeared to be a dragon rising into the sky being followed by a whirlwind which was quickly turning into a ground level typhoon of destruction.


	22. C19 Conclusion?

Girl's Bravo was written by Mario Kaneda and published as the anime by AIC (Anime International Company).

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only Characters that I make are owned by me.

-0- Conclusion?

The battle was long as both parties battled tooth and nail each trying to gain some form of victory over the other, Sailor Moon was making use of her Tiara as a distraction while aiming her powered shots straight for the false Sailor. Meanwhile Mars was firing off any shot she could at it while also taking out any Kimera that got too close, and it seemed that they continued to dwindle in numbers. Finally Mercury was busy multitasking with keeping the Youma Sailor from getting a clear line of sight on anybody, taking shots of opportunity, and finally she was scanning for weaknesses. She was slightly distracted when the wind suddenly stopped which made it far easier to keep the fog up.

The fight itself seemed to have gone on for an hour with nobody getting a clear advantage; then finally a change occurred as twin spinning blades forced the Youma to dodge taking a nasty hit of Mars Fire, but otherwise mostly causing a pause in battle.

Mars herself was in part relieved at the sudden reinforcement but annoyed at how long it took, "About time you showed up, just what were you doing? Dancing them to death?"

Siren smirked, "Yes actually it's quite effective, if you know the techniques, or the forms."

Before the argument could continue Mercury spoke up, "The only major weakness I can find is her bracer. However its different from the ones Galaxia used, it emits a false pure heart wavelength so Moon's main healing based attacks are rendered ineffective."

The Youma smirked, "Of course it is, you all have been using the same types of attacks since you started fighting, don't you think that we would adapt?"

Almost without warning a Siren's spinning Blades came from behind the youma, however this time she was prepared and dodged them, she glared at Sailor Siren who looked on impassively, frustration clear on the false Sailor Senshi's features. Suddenly another blade blew past the Youma, this time severing her arm at the shoulder. Spinning angrily she then saw her mistake, sitting on Sailor Siren's forehead was not Sailor Siren's own tiara, but Sailor Moon's.

As the girl powered down her Katana blades back to its resting form she looked on fatigued as she channelled her duplication powers into her spinning tiara which created two copies. Though now it lacked the power to finish off the Youma it would server its purpose.

"You think this will stop me, this is only a setback. I will kill you all!" The Youma was pinned for a few precious moments; Sailor Mars sensed the moment was right and fired her strongest Fire attack at the bracer, which was still on the severed limb, vaporizing it. While Mars had fired her attack Moon had charged hers and sent her most powerful spell at the wounded Youma, after taking a direct hit it fell to the ground. However it did not turn to dust.

Taking a moment it slowly regained its footing, then it sneered at the Sailor Senshi before crying out, "You think you won? You think beating me is a victory? It's not even a setback. When my masters are done they will return here then you will..." Before the mangled demon could finish the tirade a beam of golden energy pierced its back.

The now startled warriors who could only look up in horror at Sailor Terra and Sailor Chaos. Between the Dark Senshi dangled what appeared to be a hostage. She was suspended between them by dark tendrils of energy that was causing the unknown young woman pain as proven when she shook violently as the energy surged down her. She was obviously far gone by a vacant look in her eyes, eyes seen only when they opened between the worst of the surges. Aside from her traditional looking clothing the only thing that stood out was her purple hair that ran in two thin ponytails down past her knees.

Smirking Sailor Chaos sent a surge of power through the suspended woman and a light flashed on her forehead, "We win." Then in a flash of dark energy the trio was gone.

-0-

It was two weeks later that the Sailor Senshi finally had time from hunting down the last of the Kimera and searching Tokyo top to bottom for any Youma before the group finally got to collapse as one. Everyone had their own task they were trying to do while maintaining a cover identity, well except for Pluto and Siren. With the school rebuilt and Tokyo returning to some degree of normality it was decided that everyone needed to keep up appearances as much as possible.

The only reason Ranma got the pass on school was that there was a moon to rule and she had people who could tutor her. Something that came as a quirk to Ranma was that the people of Siren had accepted the curse, however they still followed tradition and always called Ranma princess even when he was powered down and male.

Ranma had just finished a meeting at Rei's shrine with the other senshi. With the apparent final cleaning of the remaining monsters of all types that Chaos and Terra left behind time to assess their true goals had come. Mercury had confirmed that with the power the rogue Sailors used they had to have left the Earth. Unfortunately the group was split on how to handle things from here. Moon wanted to find them and stop them and so did Mercury, Mars, and Venus. Ranma, and Jupiter wanted to stop them too but they wanted to clear up immediate problems and make sure that the renegades would not be able to repeat their last performance. Uranus and Neptune wanted to defend the Earth and leave other worlds alone. Pluto abstained as she had to focus on the gates, and Saturn was refusing to take sides but was leaning between Moon' and Uranus/Neptune's sides.

In the end it was decided that they would reinforce their defences as much as possible for now then make plans to deal with Chaos and Terra later. Mercury warned that they had to prepare for a possible evacuation to Siren; if Terra had full control of her powers then the Earth was vulnerable. Worse was the apparent problem on how Chaos escaped her prior fate, and if her current planning was truly her own then it was possible the entire Sailor Galaxia problem was just a step that led here.

After the meeting everyone left with the worry that things were only beginning, Ranma was more distracted then normal as he travelled home, as such something he should have noticed in advance was entirely missed by him. Although to be fair his senses were more attuned to people in distress more now than ever. As such he entirely missed that his family had visitors.

-0-

Ranma sat silently but watched the guests with a guarded perspective. His ki sense and magical sense, as minimal as that was powered down and male, was constantly shifting, as if they didn't want to give any readings on any of the three before them. The Old man was easier to get a bead on though, his magical abilities may have been fooled but his ki was able to firmly say powerful, and hidden, and had a young but experienced flavour to them.

The girl had no ki reading he could easily detect clearly, it was there but completely alien to him, and his magic said very clearly she wasn't there. He bet if Mercury had scanned this girl she would be typing madly at her computer due to the lack of presence this girl had. Ranma had been taught that even people with no magic of their own still interacted with magic, it was like light; a star had light but a planet didn't yet a planet reflects light. This girl had the magical presence, to use that analogy, of pure glass, meaning that Ranma could detect that Magic was around her, and even where she was but she didn't interact with it. It was almost as if it flowed through her.

The boy was worse; his readings were strangely both at once. His ki was unfocused but spoke of recent battles; it was unsteady but somewhat ordered. Magic seemed to reflect off him indicating normal if slightly above standard for an average person, yet it was also trying to flow through him like the girl. He filed that fact away.

Focusing on the rest of the world again, he suppressed a sigh, his mother and grandmother sat on either side of him, his mother across the table from the girl, and his grandmother across from the man who introduced himself as Katsuhito Masaki. Looking at the tea set and how his grandmother had served everyone he recalled the boy across from him was named Tenchi, and the girl was Washu.

Never before now had he truly understood what all the pomp and act of tea ceremony was all about, now he understood, it was meant to be polite, and yet give both sides an opportunity to size each other up. He had assumed it had no place in battle, now he could see, sure people use it today for their political moves, but he felt sure that this was what it was really meant for. The one thing that bothered him was the lack of the rest of the family. They had all left as if abandoning them to some disastrous fate.

Finally the tea ceremony finished and his grandmother permitted the guests, specifically Katsuhito to say their peace. The old man seemed to sigh internally as if he did not want to ask the next question, "I need to ask a dire favour. It is of the utmost importance, but I fear you will turn me away for asking it."

Ranma's grandmother, Keiko, raised an eyebrow, "While we have not seen either in some time I doubt there is much you could ask that I would refuse out of hand."

"I need you to find a Sailor Senshi for me, any Sailor Senshi."

This pulled Ranma and his entire family back. Keiko pursed her lips, "May I ask why?"

Katsuhito now leaned back a bit looking pensive, "We were attacked by two of them. While I doubt their actions are that of the entire group, they may have specific knowledge we need. Actually I fear their actions may be far reaching, as far as our homeland." This time the two younger visitors' heads snapped towards their elder as if he had said something forbidden.

Keiko nodded, "I give no promises, and ask you to stay here overnight. The Sailor Senshi are local heroes, thus any action against them will be met with dire repercussions. We both know Tsunami would not allow a conflict between the Sailors and the wielders of the light."

Ranma watched everything the boy, Tenchi seemed lost a bit but something seemed to occur to him, Tenchi had all the air of a warrior held back. His head snapped to the girl, Washu, who refused to meet Tenchi's eyes.

As a 'Martial Artist' Ranma was not the type to allow himself be held back, but there were times that Sailor Siren had been, and so had Sailor Moon. There may have been a connection here and he suspected that his grandmother had some answers. Right now though, his grandmother gave him somewhere to start, Jurai. The ancestral homeland of the people of Siren was Jurai, unless he had remembered wrong.

He was now on a timer, he had to find out who these people were and decide if he would meet them alone as Sailor Siren, or if he should call for help. In the end both questions had the same answer. Sailor Mercury would have the answers to the history, but for the present, he needed to know and know soon if they were to be trusted. With Sailor Chaos and Sailor Terra doing something across multiple worlds, it now became a question of how to stop them when they seemed so far ahead of them.

-0-

"Are you sure?" Came over his phone. Ranma had opted to use the phone due to the nature of what was happening. He tried to hide his message in what would seem like a casual call between a dating couple, not that he had much skill in that department, nor did Ami, but she was smart enough to pick up on what little in the way on queues he was able to give.

"Yeah, I don't think it will lead to trouble though, but..." Ranma paused, he needed to tell her where to look but saying Jurai or Siren would be bad, "That thing we were studying just before the craziness ended, I think I want to go over it again."

There was a pause, "You mean that history... lesson?"

"Yes..." Ranma winced, both as part of the act and because it really was painful to go through, "I think I need to go over that again. Especially old laws and stuff."

A loud sigh came over the phone, "I should call Usagi as well, kami know she could use it."

Ranma nodded, "True, but someone might need to bring her, or she would just drag her heels on that."

"Rei could bring her... I will call Makoto too; the presence of food will weaken her resolve."

Ranma laughed, although it was obvious it was a guilty one as he would fall for the food too. Little did he know that his call was being listened to, or at least his end of the call. Fortunately Tenchi and Washu did seem to believe the entire call was a legitimate boy calling girl for 'Study Session.' Katsuhito wasn't entirely convinced, he suspected that Ranma may have been the link to the Sailor Senshi, but knew that Washu would do something foolish. He could only sit back and wait. Time would tell what would happen; he could only hope Tenchi was ready, for this disaster and the one to follow, known as politics.

Ranma reentered the room from the hall where the phone was located and looked towards his family elder, "I have something that I need to do, that is if you don't need me here."

"Go see your girlfriend, I am sure your... study session will be... very interesting." his grandmother smirked, like most times before revealing where he got it from.

Ranma bowed to the guests, "I am sorry that I can't stay, I hope you find your answers." With that Ranma left heading towards the shrine.

-0-

The currently male warrior of Siren sat with the others of the group in Rei's room at her family's shrine. He had just relayed the information he had gathered from the visitors. "Any ideas?"

Ami looked unhappy, "Given what we know, given they are from Jurai, by their own admission no less, it is probably that that girl that Chaos and Terra had may have been related to them."

"Probably, they came here looking for answers, stated a specific attack on them by two of our number, and unless Neptune and Uranus have been up to things behind our back, would be a trick even for them... The attackers in question are obvious." Came from the shrine maiden.

Makoto sighed, "This assumes they are being honest with us."

Ranma looked at her, "Jurai isn't exactly a name that comes up randomly."

Pluto, the only one in uniform, frowned, "I wish I could help more then I have but even back in the old Moon Kingdom we had little to no information on where our powers originated from. The old saying that we got them from the planets themselves was a lie to keep people on the wrong track. Even I didn't know the truth."

Usagi nodded resigned, "We will have to meet with them, but not in force, though we shouldn't go completely alone."

Rei sighed, "So who goes and who is backup?"

"I think myself, Ranma, and Usagi are obvious choices. I have the most historical knowledge, Ranma since he is the point of contact, and Usagi as she is the Moon Princess; and is our leader." Ami interjected.

Ranma tilted his head to the side, "Since they only have three people to see us, I say the three of us should go. Everyone else can stay back a bit, but not too close."

The princess of the dead moon nodded, "We should appear trusting, cautious, but not stupid."

With agreement all around Ranma was elected to make the information pass through his grandmother.

-0-

Keiko knocked on the door to the guest room and waited to be permitted to enter; when she did enter she nodded towards Katsuhito. "The Sailor Senshi have agreed to meet you."

The elder man of the group nodded, Katsuhito was glad that the meeting would happen. He assumed that this family still had connections, but still assumed it would take longer.

Ranma's grandmother continued, "They are a bit weary due to the fact nobody usually makes such direct requests to meet them. But given they are somewhat aware of the topic at hand they will meet you three in a park not far from here at midnight. Although they would prefer to wait, time is important here."

"We are glad for the help. Thank you, I am sorry for being such an inconvenience for your family."

"It is important to maintain good family ties."

With both bowing to each other and the elder woman leaving closing the door behind her Katsuhito looked at the other two, "Well we have the meeting."

Tenchi shifted uncomfortably, "What should we tell them?"

Washu frowned.

Tenchi's grandfather smirked, "The truth of course."

The self proclaimed greatest scientist suddenly smirked, "How much truth though?"

"As much as is needed, no more, no less."

Tenshi looked to Katsuhito and had to ask, "I thought we weren't suppose to talk to outsiders about anything like this?"

Katsuhito nodded, "True, but they aren't outsiders. They are descended from a lost branch of the royal family. Thus they know much, even if most of their blood is thinned."

"So," started Washu, "How much do they really know?"

"Probably as much as we do, just not the same things as we do."

-0-

"Thank you for meeting us so promptly." Katsuhito stated as the three Sailor Senshi walked into the clearing which the three outsiders were waiting in.

Sailor Siren nodded, "The pleasure is ours. Though I think time is short, but let us introduce ourselves, I am Sailor Siren and this is Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury." The others nodded when introduced. It had been decided since the requested contact was through Siren that she would be the leader for the senshi for the meeting, though Moon would speak for the group as a whole.

The old man smiled and nodded, "I am Katsuhito Masaki, and this is my grandson Tenchi and Washu."

Siren nodded politely bit her eyes never left the visitors. While manners dictated a formal bow would be the proper greeting, this was not a formal gathering, it was two sets of warriors who did not entirely trust one another nor really knew each other. Thus a polite nod was the best that either was willing to give. "I understand you have information on someone being attacked by two Sailor Senshi?"

"They called themselves: Sailor Terra and Sailor Chaos." Washu offered.

The three Senshi looked at each other before Moon answered, "We want to find them ourselves, they are the ones behind all the trouble that Tokyo had gone through with all the recent demon attacks."

Katsuhito sighed, "We assumed as much. Any idea where they would have gone?"

"They are not in the solar system, we have used all methods available to us. If they were here we would have found them." Mercury interjected, left unsaid was the obvious problem they had with their powers that when they regained the Time Gate it let them know that they were probably elsewhere.

"I see." Came from the elderly looking man. "Any idea where they went?"

The other senshi looked at each other before Mercury spoke up, "For security purposes we will simply refer to the ancestral home from which we originate."

The others nodded, they implied Jurai.

Tenchi, who had been quiet so far had to ask, "Why, why do you think that?"

"We saw them with someone they had captured just before they left. After we heard what you had passed along we think they are trying to make another Sailor Senshi, probably a corrupt one." Mercury supplied.

"How would they do that?" Washu asked.

Sailor Siren sighed, "We really didn't want to answer that, and if it was anybody else we wouldn't. However what we will speak about is going to be again not answered directly."

"What they would need is someone considered Royal through bloodline, linked to the origin of power, and able to gain access to the source." Mercury gave.

Washu and Katsuhito paled, they knew that wasn't good. Katsuhito then stated, "If they do that then any power derived from the origin would be disabled."

"What?" Came from Moon.

"What he means is that since our powers are descended from theirs we will lose our powers, except for you since you have the Silver Crystal. All of us. Since Terra has the Golden Crystal and Chaos is different then they will remain in power." Mercury explained.

"We have to stop them." both Siren and Tenchi said at once, before smiling lightly and shaking their heads before the conversation renewed.

Katsuhito spoke next, "Given the severity of the situation I assume you will help us."

Moon shook her head, "We will do this for everyone."

Siren frowned, "We will need to leave a force behind so that we can defend behind us. But many of us will go." She looked at Moon who nodded. This was previously agreed upon as their standard reaction to leaving the earth. Especially after the Siren War.

Moon spoke up next, "So how will we get there."

"By space ship of course," Washu offered.

Siren rolled her eyes, "Right and I assume you can pull one out of your pocket? Or you somehow landed one with our systems specifically watching for them."

"Actually yes."

The Sailors were silent. Someone wasn't doing what they were suppose to or else their was a hole in the old Moon Kingdom's sensor net that was large enough to literally drive a star ship through, which of course defeated the entire point of such a sensor net. Moon then sighed, "If the Moon Kingdom didn't fall we would have several people explaining this to us."

"At least." Siren grunted.

Katsuhito nodded, he could see obviously that their lines of defence were in trouble, but then again theirs were not the only ones. "So how will we proceed. We can leave in three days at the earliest."

"Why so long, not that we do not need a day or two to prepare ourselves but it seems like you need more time then we do."

Tenchi sighed, "We had a few people at our home who were either injured or who need to stay behind to care for our injured. In fact some of the ones we wish to take need to stay behind. We still have to sort this out."

Sailor Moon looked at them before nodding, "We are in a similar situation. Where do you want us to meet?"

Katsuhito supplied, "The Masaki shrine in Hokkaido." Siren's eye twitched.

"Now that the formalities are out of the way I must ask, why are your uniforms so..." Washu asked.

Everyone ignored as the old man palmed his face.

"We don't know how to change them. They are tied to our power source." Came from Mercury.

Washu nodded, "Then the one with the oldest power that the others descended from would have set up the appearance." Mercury and Siren glared at Moon as she shrank back waving her arms.

"Right," came from Siren. "Better than fluffy pompoms or pointless flowing ribbons anyway" Tenchi who was not wearing his Jurian armor just knew he was in for it later. "We will see you there in three days."

As both groups left and the Senshi met with the others who were listening via Mercury's computer Moon found herself surrounded, "So this is your fault." Moon was unsure who said it.

"Waaahhhh! I based it off of Sailor V's costume, don't blame me. I didn't do it intentionally." She sniffled, "Besides Luna never told me this would happen!"

Venus waved her hands in front of her, "Hey Artemis only told me about the one transformation, and it was preset."

"She only told me I made Tuxedo Mask's outfit!"

Siren's eyes narrowed, "I always knew cats were evil."


End file.
